IHV 6534 
.C4 fl6 
1889d 

ICopy 1 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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HV 6534 
.C4 fl6 
1889d 
I Copy 1 



Price, 25 Cents, 





ASSASSINATION 



Dr. P. H. Cf^0]4lH, 




A Murderous Conspiracy Dnmasked. 



By HOWARD WAGNER. 




CHICAGO: 

GEO. D, SIMONDS PRINTING CO., 126 CLARK STREET, 
1889 






'■■I 



CONTENTS. 

Abduction of Dr. Cronin — A Trunk Found with 
Blood on it — The Horse and Buggy which took 
the Physician away. 

The Search for the Missing Man by the PoHce, the 
Pinkerton Detective Agency and Private Detec- 
tives — No Tidings — Suspicion Rests on Detec- 
tive Daniel Coughlan and P. O^Sullivan — The 
Doctor said to have been seen in the City. 

Bogus Newspaper Dispatches Announcing Dr. Cro- 
nin's Arrival at Toronto, Canada — Pretended 
Interviews — -A Reward Offered — Arrest of 
Coughlan, O 'Sullivan and Woodruff. 

Dr. Cronin's Body Found — Intense Excitement — The 
Body Identified — The remains Prepared for 
Burial — The Funeral Obsequies — An Immense 
Throng — Impressive Services — Interment of Dr. 
Cronin's Body in Calvary Cemetery. 

The Coroner Summons a Jury — The Testimony — 
Startling Revelations — The Clan-na-Gael. 

Dr. Cronin's Relations with Irish Secret Organiza- 
tions — His Determination to Expose Alleged 
Malfeasance in High Places — Bitter Enmity of 
His Foes — Cronin's Charges — Sullivan's Protest. 

The Verdict of the Coroner's Jury — Arrest of 
Alexander Sullivan — His Release on Bail. 

A special grand jury impaneled — Capture of Martin 
Burke — Extradition Proceedings — Arrest of John 
F. Beggs — Indictments found against Beggs, 
Coughlin, O'Sullivan, Burke, Cooney, Kunze 
and Woodruff. 

Expressions of public sentiment — Mass-Meetings — 
The Clergy speak — A Symposium — Biographical 
sketch of Dr. Cronin — A Superb Poem by a 
former classmate of the murdered man. 



fineLlY illustrated. 



jiiiAii iPii4 i@iii# 

DAVID iiENDERsoN, ----- - !!ltl*^I: 

EVERY EVENING, 

Matinees® Wednesdays® and® Saturdays. 



= IDEAL • EXTRAVAGANZA • GO,, • 



WILL PRESENT THE 3d. ANNUAL EXTRAVAGANZA 
OF THE CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE. ENTITLED 



BLUEBEARD, JR. 



IK FOUR ACX8 A9(D A I»rtOI.OGUB£, BY CI^AY M. GRKHPiB. 

The entire Piece will be produced under the immediate direction of 
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^200 PESPkE: 8M THE STAGE<(^ 

Scenery by Messr.s. Albert, Voegtlin (9 Costumes of Principles, Chorus, Slaves, 

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PRICES: Evenings 25 cents to $l.50. MATINEES 
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Entered according to act of (Congress, in the year 188i». by 

HOWARD WAGNER, 
in the office of the Librarian of (^on^M-ess at Washington. 




ASSASSINATION 

OP 

DR. PHILIP PATRICK HENRY CRONIN 



A MURDEEOUS CONSPIRACY UNMASKED. 



THE DARKEST DEED IN THE ANNALS OF THE CITY 
OF CHICAGO. 



DE. CRONIN S ABDUCTION. 

On Saturday evening, May 4th last, Dr. Philip H. Oronin, a 
well-known physician and Irish patriot, was siimmoned to an alleged 
urgent case requiring his professional skill. He had a suite of rooms 
at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. T. T. Conklin, No. 470 North Clark 
Street, where he could be consulted professionally between stated 
hours, as well as regular houi's at his down-town office in the Opera 
House Building on the south- west corner of Washington and S. Clark 
Streets. At 7:'5() o'clock in the evening on the above date, a man un- 
known to him drove rapidly to his residence office, and, liitching the 
horse to a ring in the sidewalk, hurriedly ascended tlio steps. Upon 
being admitted to the reception room by Mrs.Conklin,the man breatli- 
lessly inquired for the doctor, saying that a laborer liad been severe 
ly injured at the ice-house of P. O'Sullivan, in Lake View, and re- 
quired the prompt attenticm and skill of a surgeon. The Doctor had 
made a contract with Sulhvan to render such service to his men at a 
stipulated price for the season. Mrs. Conklin noticed that the man 
was evidently much excited, and on this account at once announced 
his t^resence to Dr. Cronin, wlio, though engaged witli a patient at 
the moment, came out and heard from the stranger the nature of his 
errand. Mrs. Conklin states under oath tliat when the Doctor came 
out the man, who was sitting nervously on the edge of a chair, rose 
and x>resented a card to him. This was on the threshold between the 
parlor and the office. The (xniversation arrested Mrs. Conklin's at- 
tention. As the man jjassed tiie card to Dr. Cronin, he said : "Mr. 



Sullivan is out of the city. He left word that you were to attend his 
men. One of them has been terribly injured and we want you quick- 
ly." The Doctor asked: ''What is the nature of the injury?" The 
man said that the workman had been run over. He drew his hand 
across his body to indicate the iujury. 

Mrs. Conklin states that Dr. Oronin at first hesitated about res- 
ponding to the call but the man was so earnest and urgent that he 
gave way. He finished with his patient in the office, and the man 
again hurried him. Taking his instruments and some splints and 
cotton batting and Ijandages from a drawer, he went down the stairs 
and got into tlie buggy. Frank Scanlan came up and spoke to the 
Doctor. The latter threw a bunch of keys on the sidewalk, as the 
driver lashed his horse at starting and drove rapidly away. That was 
the last time any of Dr. Cronin's friends saw him alive. 

Corroborating Mrs, Conklin's statement Frank T. Scanlan says 
he arrived in front of the Conklin residence at tlie moment the Doc- 
tor started away. His account of their hasty interview is as follows : 

"Dr. Cronin was to have attended a meeting of the stockholders 
of the Celto- American Company that evening, and I was surprised to 
see him dashing off' so hurriedly in a northern direction when the 
meeting was to take place in the Odd Fellows Building. When I 
called to him the Doctor leaned forward across the man with whom 
he was about to start and explained the circumstances of his sudden 
call. I then asked him for the keys of the rooms occupied'by the 
C(3mpany, so that I could let myself in. The stranger darted an aw- 
ful look at me for delay in -^ the start and gave his horse a fierce cut 
with the whip. The animal s|)rang forward like lighting and Dr. 
Cronin threw the keys I wanted on the sidewalk while tlie buggy was 
going at full speed up Clark street. I shall never forget the glance 
that fellow gave me. His eyes literally glistened with malice, and, un- 
conscious of having done anything to provoke hatred, I was dumb- 
founded. I watched the Ijuggy as it drove onward. Each moment 
the liorse seemed to go faster and faster until it disappeared from 
view." 

TPTE MESSENGER. 

The appearance of the mysterious man, who drove away accom- 
panied by Dr. Cronin, as described by Mrs. Conklin is that he was of 
medium height and build, indicating groat physical strength. His 
hair was very dark, and he wore a moustache. He had no beard or 
whiskers. His features were quite regular and bore no marked pecu- 
liarities except a very swarthy complexion. He wore dark clothes 
and a black slouch hat. He was nervous and impatient. He entered 
the room reluctantly when Mrs. Conklin answered the bell, was nerv- 



-3— 



oils while waiting for the doctor to come out of his private office, 
and hurried in his movements when returning to the buggy and un- 
hitching the horse, and in starting while the doctor was talking to 
Frank Scanlan. His face appeared flushed which the lady attributed 
to the excitment of the occasion. The real cause of his evident ex- 
citment and perturbation lay hidden in his murderous heart. Intro- 
spection, no doubt, made him nervous. He was treacherously luring 
a fellow being to a pitfall, and to death. 

A GHASTLY FIND. 

On Sunday, the 5th of May, (the day succeeding Dr. Cronin's 
disappearance), a large trunk was found 100 feet north of Fulda street. 

On either side of the street at 
that point is a grove of elder 
trees. This road is a continua- 
tion of Evanston avenue, and is 
called "the 100 foot road." Its 
road-bed at the point indicated 
is raised considerably, leaving a 
gulch on each side covered with 
trees and under-brush. Three 
young men, going on a fishing 
excursion found the trunk. It 
was broken open, the interior 
was smeared with blood, and 
blood had soiled the buff -colored 
covering. It was taken to the 
road, near the corner of Evanston 
avenue (or its continuation) and 
Sultzer street. Alderman Chap- 
man, of Lake View, notified the 
Lake View Police, and the trunk 
was removed to tlie station. Its 
further examination by Captain Villiers revealed a lock of hair smear- 
ed with blood. Several men were at once detailed to make further in- 
vestigations and, if possible, gain some further clue to the mystery 
It was learned from officer Stcib that a wagon, similar to an express 
wagon, going east passed him shortly after 1 o'clock on Sunday 
morning at the corner of South port and FuUerton avenues. Offi- 
cer Smith, of the same force, stated that he noticed the same wagon 
about 2 o'clock going north on Clark street, and stopped into the 
road with a view of stopping it. He noticed that the wagon con- 
tained a trunk. He supposed that the parties in the wagon were 




m^m f •' ii'i^i 



delivering the trunk honestly and permitted them to pass. He ob- 
served that the trunk was a brown one. An hour later the Bame 
wagon passed him on Olaik and Diversy street coming back and he 
noticed that the trunk was gone. He positively identifies the trunk 
found as the one he saw in the wagon. 

Captain Villiers stated that it was evident the trunk came from 
this city, and that from the fresh blood marks on it, when found, it 
is impossible that it should have contained a subject for a medical 
college. He further stated that it was evident that a body had 
been hastily removed and secreted somewhere, for the lock and 
hd had been violently burst open without taking time to use a key. 




THE nORSE AND BUGGY. 

The horse and buggy which took Dr. Cronin away that evening 
were noticed particularly by Mrs. Conklin. The Iiorse was white, not 
a heavy horse; it stood quietly, and was well broken; started easily, 
but sprang forward when tlie driver struck it viciously with the whip. 
The buggy was what might bo called a box buggy, and had a top 
without curtains; the top was up. 

The Conklins, husband and wife, sat up until 12 o'clock on. that 
Saturday night waiting for the doctor to return, and get his lunch. 
He came not, and they retired. Morning came, yet it brought no tid- 
ings of the physician. It was strange that he did not come, or send 
a message, as was his habit. After breakfast Mr. Conklin hired a 
horse and buggy and drove out to P. O'Sullivan's, the ice-dealer, who 
he found at the house. There he learned that no accident had hap- 



-5— 

pened to any of Sullivan's men, and that no summons had been sent 
to Dr. Cronin from his establishment. 

Frank Scanlan's description of the horse and buggy tallies close- 
ly with Mrs. Conklin's. That some serious mischance had befallen 
Dr. Cronin, both Mr. and Mrs.Conklin were convinced. From frequent 
conversations had with them relating to troubles in the secret organi- 
zations to which he belonged, in which he had repeatedly stated if 
anything ever happened to him, they would know the source where 
it originated. Mr. Conklin at once notified the Police authorities of 
Dr. Cronin's disappearance, and also Pinkerton's Detective Agency. 
It was ascertained on the following day that the horse and buggy 
used on the occasion of the doctor's disappearance belonged to livery- 
man Patrick Dinan, at 260 North Clark street. 

Shortly after this, Captain Schaack drove Dinan's white horse 
hitched to the same buggy used by Coughlin's alleged friend around 
to Conklin's. Rain was falling at the time and the action and move- 
ments of the animal were so different from those of the horse that 
took Dr. Cornin away, Mrs. Conklin was uncertain as to its identity. 
Subsequently when the same rig was driven there by another party, 
May 26th, she was certain that it was the very horse and buggy used 
by the man who took the physician away. 

To make assurance doubly sure the latter party {Times Re- 
porter) drove the rig from Conklin's to where Frank Scanlan was 
stopping, and asked him a question about the funeral which was to 
take place on the following day. Mr. Scanlan didn't answer. His 
eyes stared like those of a man who thinks he sees a ghost. 

His face turned pale and his lips twitched. He ignored the 
question asked him and exclaimed: "Where did you get that horse?" 

"Oh, down in Lake View. But what about the funeral Mr, 
Scanlan?" 

"That's strange. That's strange. You got the horse in Lake 
View? I would swear that is the horse that was at Dr. Ci-onin's that 
Saturday night. And the buggy too. See liere, where did you get 
this rig?" 

" Oh, the rig is all right. The funeral will be held at 11 o'clock 
will it?" 

But Mr. Scanlan did not seem to hear. He stood gazing at the 
horse and was almost oblivious to anything else. 

"I can't understand it — I can't understand it," he muttered. 

" See here Mr. Scanlan, you evidently seem to think you know 
this horse. Why do you think so?" 

" I am sure that horse and buggy comi)rise the rig that took Dr. 
Cronin away. The buggy is the one or one exactly like it. 1 am sure 



of that. . The horse is the same or one so nearly Uke it that no man 
can tell the difference. I am morally certain the rigs are identical." 

"Can you describe the man who called for Dr. Cronin?" 

" He was a rather small active man. His face needed shaving. 
He had a small dark brown mustache. He wore a round soft hat. 
I judged he was the foreman of the ice gang or some working man." 

It took the reporter just four minutes by the watch to drive the 
horse from Liveryman Dinan's to Dr. Cronin's rooms. ■ Dinan says 
the rig left his stable at 7:10 or 7:15. Frank Scanlan says it was 7:20 
by the clock on the Division street tower when he saw the buggy 
in front of Dr. Cronin's door. 

Not a scintilla of doubt remains that it was Dinan's horse and 
buggy that conveyed Dr. Cronin away. 

THE SEARCH FOR DR. CRONIN. 

Upon being notified of the mysterious disappearance of the phy- 
sician, Captain Schaack of the East Chicago avenue Station sent 
officer Whelen to make inquiries at P. O'Sullivan's ice-house. Wha- 
len was there informed that no accident had occurred to any one 
connected with the establishment; no one had sent for Dr. Cronin, 
nor had he been seen about the place. The latter's closest friends 
were interviewed, not only by detectives, but also by reporters for the 
daily city papers. To the latter several persons expressed the fear 
that Dr. Cronin had been foully dealt with. The Conklins were cer- 
tain that his enemies, or some of the most bitter amongst them, could 
account for his absence. To a reporter of the Inter-Ocean, John F. 
Scanlan, the noted Irish leader and a close friend of Dr. Cronin, 
(while evidently guarding his words), stated that he feared his friend 
had been murdered. These investigations developed the fact that 
intense bitter animosity existed between the missing man and a num- 
ber of persons who are, or have been, prominent in some of the secret 
Irish organizations of this city and the country at large. This, it 
was believed, furnished a clue to the mystery. Had Dr. Cronin been 
"removed "? This was the terrible question which was being asked 
on all hands. 

ALIiEDGED CONNECTION OF DETECTIVE COUGHLIN WITH THE CRIME. 

On the 4th of May, sometime between 11 o'clock a. m., and 1 
o'clock p. M., according to the statement of P. Dinan, a liveryman at 
No. 260 North Clark Street, Detective Daniel Coughlin, of the East 
Chicago Avenue Police Station went to Dinan's stable and said that a 
friend of his wanted a horse and buggy that night. No special import- 
ance was attached to this matter, for Coughlin and Detective Whelen 
of the same force, were both in the habit of getting livery "rigs" there. 



Nor did Ooughlin's request that the matter be kept secret occasion 
any surprise or suspicion as that often happened in the line of their 
official duties. There was nothing out of the common in Cough lin's 
manner or conversation, and nothing more was thought of the inci- 
dent. An employee of Dinan's says that shortly after 7 o'clock on the 
evening of that day a small man, weighing, prpbably 130 to liO 
pounds, wearing a seedy gray or yellow overcoat and a small felt hat 
with the front pulled down over his eyes went into Dinan's stable 
and said he wanted the horse Coughlin had spoken about. Dinan 
testified at the Coroner's inquest as f(jllows : 

"Piye or ten minutes past 7 o'clock that evening my blacksmith 
came along and said he wanted a horse and buggy for an hour or an 
hour and a half. I said 'all right' and ordered the horse to be hitched 
up. Mr. Jones then said 'Come out and have a cigar.' I went and when 
I came back the man came from the back of the stable and asked for 
the horse Dan Coughlin had ordered for him. He came from the reai* 
end of my stable and my hostler told me he had come in while I was 
out and asked him for the horse Dan Coughlin had ordered for him. 
I said all right, and told him to hitch up the white horse. He was 
putting the harness on a carriage horse and I told him not to give 
him that horse as it would kill him if it was put in single harness. 
Meantime, the blacksmith's horse was being hitched up and the man 
asked for it. I said no, he could not have that. It was for another 
man. Jones said to me *Let him have it,' but I said no, I know what 
that horse has done to-day, but I don't know what his horse has got 
to do. When the hostler was hitching up his horse he made some 
remarks about side curtains. I told him I could not give him any. 
I did not know where they were, and it would take too long to look 
for them. I said it was dark anyway and nobody would see him. 
He gave no reason for asking for curtains, but he growled a little 
about the looks of the horse." 

"When did he leave your stable?" 

"It was about 7:15. He drove directly north on Clark street. Me 
and my two men followed the horse out and watched him across Chest- 
nut street. We watched to see how the horse would act, as he had 
not been out that day. Chestnut street is the first street north on 
Clark street." 

" Did he give you his name?" 

" No, sir; I did not ask him. He did not give it. He simply said 
he wanted the horse ordered for him by Dan Coughlin." 

"What kind of a looking man was he?" 

" I did not pay any attention because I thought he was doing 
work for the detectives and I did not pay any attention to detectives 



—8— 

when they ordered. He was about five feet six or seven inches — 
something of your build (the corner's). His coat was buttoned close 
up below his chin; the second button was also buttoned, and then 
it was unbuttoned the rest of the way down. The horse was a white 
one." 

On Monday morning following a police officer went to Dinan's 
stable and inquired of one of his men if a white horse was out on Sat- 
urday night. This officer had his police clothes on, and when this 
question was reported to Dinan his man was told to say no, because 
his instructions were not to tell who took out horses ordered by the 
Captain or his detectives. Similar inquiries were made soon after the 
policeman left. Dinan states under oath, that he went to the Police 
Station to see Captain Schaack about 9 or 10 o'clock on that Monday 
morning, and at the door he met Coughlin coming out. He asked me 
who I was looking for, and I said for the Captain. He said: ' What 
for? You appear to be excited.' I said I want to see him; so many 
inquiries have been made about the white horse that was out on Sat- 
urday night — that horse I let your friend have. He turned around 
to me and said: 'You keep quiet about it; me and Dr. Cronin have 
not been good friends, and it might get me into difficulty or trouble." 
Dinan did not find Captain Schaack at the time, and returned to the 
Station at about 1 o'clock that day. The Captain had gone to dinner, 
and would not bo back till 2 o'clock. The liveryman went to Schaack's 
house and told him the circumstances of the case. He subsequently 
told Chief Hubbard and Horace Elliot the same thing, because he 
was a little disturbed over the matter. Dinan said further, before 
the Coronor and jury, that four or five days after seeing Coughlin at 
the Station on Monday morning he was passing the Station and saw 
Coughlin on the outside. He said that he had found the man who 
drove the horse on that Saturday night. Dinan asked where he had 
found him. Coughlin replied: " My feet are sore looking for him; I 
found him going to take a train for New Mexico. Ho paid me that 
three dollars for the use of the horse, but I have spent it. I will give 
it to you on pay day." Dinan told him that was all right. 

Dinan was asked: 

" Will you please describe the horse to the jury?" 

"It is a white horse, stands about fifteen and a half hands high, 
rather long limbed, long body, little slim, and long rangy neck on 
him. There is not a mark on him, however, that anybody could 
identify him. Ho is clean as a whistle, not spavined, nor collarboned, 
or ringboned, or nothing. The buggy was a three-quarter seat Co- 
lumbus manufacture- -an old buggy trimmed with blue cloth. There 
was a cotton whip in it. The top was up when the man drove away. 



— 9— 

In answer to the foreman of the Coroner's jury, Dinan said that 
the buggy was a side-bar, rather low; and not much higher than 
some phaetons. 

Napier Moreland, hostler for livery -keeper Dinan, testified to 
hitching the horse for Detective Coughlin's friend on the night of 
May 4. The man had a dark complexion, and looked like a mechanic 
who had just come from work. His coat was buttoned at the neck; 
he wore a small dark soft hat. The horse came back about 9:15 or 
9:30 the same evening. 

"How was the horse when he came back?" asked Coroner Hertz. 

" Very warm." 

"Who drove it back?" 

" I didn_lt see the man when he came back; no one about the barn 
saw him. When I saw the horse he was standing on the carriage 
walk inside the stable and the man was going out the door: did not 
know, but thought he was the same man who drove away with the 
rig." 

To other questions asked by the Coroner this witness said he 
washed the buggy on Sunday morning: it was covered with Boule- 
vard mud and sand: there was the same kind of mud on the horse as 
on the buggy. 

When Dinan told Captain Schaack the story of Coughlin hiring 
a horse for a stranger on the night Cronin disappeared, the Captain 
called Coughlin into his private office and asked the detective who 
his friend was. 

Coughlin said he was a man named Thomas Smith who came 
from Michigan to have "a time;" that he was from the same town 
that he (Coughlin) was, and that his father and brother had recom- 
mended the fellow to him. The Captain asked Coughlin if he thought 
he could find him. The latter replied he thought he could. Cough- 
lin, accompanied by Detective Whelen went out and searched for the 
the man two days without finding him. They were then ordered to 
drop the Cronin case altogether and report for general work. A day 
or two afterwards while they were walking along Clark, near Illinois 
street, a man met them who appeared to know Coughlin. Whelen's 
account of this meeting is as follows: 

" I didn't pay any attention to the fellow, because he appeared 
to be a friend of Dan's. Dan didn't offer to introduce me so I strolled 
along a little way north and waited for Dan to get through. When 
he got through he came over where I was standing and we walked 
north about a block. Then he told me that the man he met was his 
friend from Michigan who liad driven Dinan's horse. I turned around 
to eee if I could see the fellow but he was too far away. If I had 



-10— 

known at the time who he was I would have taken him to the station 
to see the Captain. But as we were not on the case then I soon for- 
got the incident." 

When asked what kind of a looking man he was Whelen re- 
plied: 

" I don't believe I looked at him, so the only description I can 
give I got from Dinan and his men." 

" Didn't you think it rather peculiar that Ooughlin did not intro- 
duce you to a man for whom you had been hunting two days?" 

"I didn't think much about it then, because I wasn't paying any 
attention to the case." 

This circumstance occurred some days after they were taken off 
the Cronin case it appears, and subsequently Coughlin told Captain 
Schaack that they had met the fellow on Clark street, but that he 
had given a satisfactory account of himself, which apparently satis- 
fied the Captain. Coughlin also stated that the man had gone to 
New Mexico. When Schaack was asked why he had not ordered the 
arrest of Coughlin's friend, he protested that the description given of 
him by Dinan and that detailed by Mrs. Conklin of the man who 
drove Dr. Cronin away, were entirely different. But the description 
given before the Coroner by Dinan of the man vouched for by Cough- 
lin tallies very closely with that given by Mrs. Conklin of the person 
who took Dr. Cronin away. 

Chief Hubbard, when these facts came to his knowledge, sum- 
moned Coughlin to liis office in the City Hall, where the detective 
was closeted two hours with him, Captain Schaack and lawyer Hynes 
of the District Attorney's office. Coughlin was subjected to a rigid 
examination. At the conclusion of the conference he was placed un- 
der arrest and locked uj). 

now r. O'SULLIVAN CAME UNDER SUSPICION. 

It has been shown that Dr. Cronin was lured to his fate by a 
false representation, the pretext being that his professional services 
were required by a laborer in the employ of P. O'Sullivan, an ice 
dealer in Lake View, with whom Dr. Cronin had made a contract to 
render professional services in case they were required. This dealer's 
force comprised a few men only — about half-a-dozen or less — and 
when the circumstances of Dr. Cronin 's disappearance became known, 
a suspicion arose that the singular transaction of making a contract 
with a i>hysician for medical attendance of this sort when the em- 
ployees of the man could be counted on the lingers of a single hand, 
and when the fartlier fact was known that Jit was one of Sullivan's 
men Dr. Cronin was summcjned to attend, the suspicion an^se at 
once that P. O'Sullivan Avas connected with Cronin's abduction, if he 



11 



was not further implicated in the tragedy that followed it. At the 
inquest Justice John A. Mahoney, of Lake View, related what oc- 
curred at a meeting of the Washington Literary Society, at Cook's 
Hall, on March 29. During the meeting Dr. Cronin and P. O' Sulli- 
van came in. He had known both of them before. Before they sepa- 
rated O'Sullivan asked witness what he thought of Cronin as a physi- 
cian. Witness gave a favoable reply. Then O'Sullivan asked witness 
to meet him at Kell's saloon at 1 o'clock the next day and take him 
to Dr. Cronin's and introduce him. O'Sullivan did not keep this ap- 
pointment, and witness forgot all about it for two weeks. On Holy 
Thursday O'Sullivan called at mtness' house and witness was away. 
But Sullivan made an appointment through witness' sister, to meet 
witness at Keil's saloon. Witness and O'Sullivan met there according 
to appointment, and witness took O'Sullivan to Dr. Cronin's office and 
introduced him. A third party, whom witness did not know, was 
present. Sullivan made a yearly contract with Cronin. Witness was 
not in the room during the conversation, but overheard it. Cronin 
charged $10 a month for attending O'Sullivan's hands. O'Sullivan 
objected, that was too much, but they finally agreed about it, 
and witness, O'Sullivan and Cronin all went down stairs together and 
had some refreshments. 

These circumstances were investigated by Chief Hubbard: O'Sul- 
livan was examined and sufficient evidence obtained to warrant his 
arrest. He was committed to the lock-up to await the verdict of the 
Coroner's jury. A true bill was found against him by the Grand 
Jury at the same time that similar bills were found against Detective 
Coughlin and a man by the name of Woodruff, whose connection 
with the trunk mystery is detailed further on. 

THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. 

Immediate and vigorous efforts to fathom the cause of Dr. 
Cronin's siidden disappearance were made both by his friends and 
the Police authorities. Several theories were advanced to account 
for his absence. His most intimate friends were pronounced in their 
belief that he was the victim of foul play. Others, who had been 
at variance with him on account of questions growing out of Irish 
organizations and the funds collected for the Irish national cause, 
scouted the idea of foul play, asserting that it was much more likely 
he had voluntarily absented himself from the city. To a reporter 
who called on Alexander Sullivan at 378 Oak street, (at one time 
prominent in the Irish organizations in this country), that individual, 
in reply to the question, "What were your relations with Dr. Cronin?" 
said: "I haven't had any for years. I have a hearty contempt for the 
man, as I suppose many others have, but I have known nothing of 



.2_j2I: 



-12- 

his habits or acquaintances." He thought the missing man would 
"turn up again all right." 

It was also intimated in other quarters that Cronin was courting 
sensational notoriety, and others hinted that there was a woman in 
the case. The search was kept up to discover his whereabouts, 
alive or dead. The northern part of the city proper, and the wards 
in Lake View were searched; the lake in that vicinity was exammed 
but without avail. The trunk mystery was unsolved. The hair 
found in it was believed to be that of a woman. No tangible evi- 
dence seemed to connect it with the doctors disappearance. Al- 
though his closest friends inclined to the belief that he had been 
fouly dealt with, this hypothesis, by reason of the brutality and 
atrocity of such a crime, was not largely shared either by the 
authorities or the public. It seemed much more plausible that 
the man was missing of his own free will. And this view was the 
more readily accepted wlien it became known that on May 9th, a 
young lady employed in the City Recorder's office, stated positively 
she saw Dr. Cronin on Saturday night, May 4th, about 9:30 o'clock. 
Her statement was corroborated by a North Side cable car conductor 
who said that Dr. Cronin was on his car going South that night; 
that he carried him to Madison and LaSalle streets, where the 
Doctor left the car, inquiring, as he did so, the way to the Union 
Depot. The fact that Dr. Cronin was thoroughly conversant with 
the location of the depot and the streets in the business portion 
of the city, rendered this part of the fellow's story improbable, but 
the rest was accepted as true, because the time tallied with Miss 
Murphy's statement that she saw the Doctor about that time. 

When interviewed by a reporter Miss Murphy readily consented 
to give all the details of the incident. SLie was asked: 

"Are you quite sure. Miss Murphy, it was Dr. Cronin you saw 
on the car? Could you not have been mistaken?" 

" By no means," said Miss Muri)hy, {^iswerin^ the last question 
first, 'I am very well acquainted with Dr. Cronin, and am sure that 
I saw him on a Clark street car shortly after 9 o'cl(x;k Saturday 
evening. I had been paying a visit to friends on Gaifield avenue. 
I left at 9 o'clock, taking a Garfield avenue car. At the corner of 
Clark street this was attached to a cable train. When we reached 
Division street I procured a transfer on the State street line. As 
I alighted I looked into the cable car and am positive that I saw 
Dr. Cronin sitting there, his arms folded and his head bowed as 
though in deep thought. As I looked at him he raised his head 
and I caught a good glimpse of his face. He did not look at me, 
nor could he have recognized me if lie had, as it was dark outside. 



—13— 

while the car in which he rode was well lighted. He had an ob- 
long bundle of some kind resting upon his knees, over which his 
arms were folded. 

"When I read in the Monday morning papers that Dr. Cronin 
had disappeared, I told father that I had seen him, and we both 
laughed at the idea that the Doctor had been murdered. When I 
came to the office here I told the same story, but somehow it has 
just gotten out." 

" Did you see this statement of Mr. Scanlan's, wherein he says 
he does not believe you saw the Doctor, and hints that you have 
an ulterior motive in saying so?" 

"No, I have not seen that; but it makes no difference what 
any one says. I did see Dr. Cronin, and I know him too well to 
mistake any one else for him. I can't make out what Mr. Scanlan 
means by an 'ulterior motive.' I am sure I have nothing against 
the Doctor," and Miss Murphy laughed heartily at the idea. 

"But Mr. Scanlan says your father and Dr. Cronin were bitter 
enemies ?" 

" I am sure that can't be so, for father has never taken a very 
active part in Irish affairs. At least, if it is true, I knew nothing 
of it, nor has father ever intimated anything like it to me." 

Miss Murphy resides with her father, Thomas Murphy, at No. 
236 Oak street. She is quite a comely and talented young lady 
and has a reputation as an elocutionist of no mean ability. She 
appears frequently as a recitationist at Irish demonstrations and 
Catholic entertainments. At such places she frequently met Dr. 
Cronin, who also took part in the programme. She has known him 
for some time, and is very certain that she saw him riding in a 
Clark street car that Saturday evening. 

Conductor William Dwyer resided at No. 1733 Shilling place. 
On Saturday, May 4th., by special arrangement, Dwyer ran the 
Hinits cable car for Conductor Humphreys. When interviewed, 
Dwyer was not averse to telling his story of Dr. Cionin's ridiug 
down town on his car that Saturday night. He was asked: 

"Where did he take the car?" 

"At Frederick street, and until we reached Goethe street he 
was the sole occupant of the car." 

" Was there anything peculiar about the man that would make 
you remember him out of the many i^assengers you carried that 
day?" 

"Well, perhaps not; if my attention had not been called to him 
by you newspaper men. But being questioned about whom I car- 
ried on that trip I remembered the single passenger I carried, and 



—14— 

how morose or thoughtful he appeared; never once lifting his gaze 
from the floor of the car. I remember now that he held on his 
knees what appeared to be a case of surgical instruments; long and 
flat, the case was. Under his arm he carried a bundle of some 
kind which I think must have contained cotton, for once when I 
passed through the car I brushed against it and a small particle 
of what appeared to be cotton clung to my coat." 

"Where did he get off?" 

f At Madison street. When we got to Monroe street he rose 
suddenly, came out to the platform and asked if that was Madison 
street. I told him it was not, and he remained standing till the 
next corner was reached. I stopped the car here, and he got off 
and strode hurriedly west on Madison street." 

"What kind of looking man was he?" 

" Tall, good looking, big brown mustache, and wore dark clothes- 
That is all I remember of him." 

"Do you think he was Dr. Cronin?" 

"Well, according to what IMiss Murphy says, it was. That is 
the only reason I have for supposing it to be him." 

In one interview Dwyer told a reporter that his passenger in- 
quired in which direction the Union Depot was, and that he told 
him to go West and he would find it. This he subsequently de- 
nied. The fellow's attention had been called to the improbability 
of that statement by the comments of the press and he amended 
his story on that point. His statements were inaccurate in an- 
other important particular. A glance at the sheets made out by 
the street-car conductors when turning in their money for each 
run shows that instead of only one passenger on the 9 o'clock car 
there were thirty-six. This error in approximating the number of 
occupants of a ear cannot be ascribed to a faulty memory or a 
confusion of ideas when the importance of the event is considered. 
It simply proves that Dwyer did not tell the truth. 

The Conductor's story and Miss Murphy's positive and cir- 
cumstantial statements went far in strengthening tlie impression 
in the public mind that Dr. Cronin was alive and was voluntarily 
lading. 

After the body of the Doctor was discovered and its identity 
established beyond question, Miss Murphy was again seen. She 
was much agitated, and said that she had evidently been mistaken, 
but that the man she saw on the car bore so close a resemblance 
to Cronin that she was positive it was the Doctor. 

The Conductor, as soon as the body was found and identified, 



—15— 

suddenly became an invalid, resigned his position, and hurried to 
Canada "for his health." 

In the light of subsequent events the statements of these per- 
sons have no little significance. Taken with the report that Dr^ 
Cronin was seen soon afterwards in Canada, and had been inter- 
viewed by newspaper men, and that these interviews were sent 
broadcast over the country, and the further statement that the 
physician had said to one of these men that he was going to 
France, the inference is certainly strong that there was a deep laid 
plot to hoodwink the police of Chicago, and people everywhere in 
regard to the real facts relating to Dr. Cronin's disappearance. 

ANOTHER DARK CHAPTER. 

The next chapter in this "strange eventful history" of a crime 
is furnished by those " cooked dispatches " from Canada. Without 
repeating these telegrams, giving " bogus " interviews with Dr. Cronin 
in Toronto, it will suffice that one Charles Long, a reporter, and Will- 
iam J. Starkey, a fugitive Chicago lawyer, Avith brazen effrontery 
declared, according to the dispatches referred to, that they saw him 
there. If the Doctor left the city, as seemed probable from Dwyer's 
story, he must have had a destination in view. Long and Starkey, it 
would seem found him out. If their statements were worthy of be 
lief he arrived in Toronto Friday, May 11. Saturday, May 12, every 
leading paper in the world informed its readers, through dispatches 
from Charles Long, that Dr. Cronin was alive, well and in Toronto. 
Saturday night Starkey entertained Dr. Cronin at his house. Sunday 
morning Long entertained him at his. And Sunday morning the 
world read a lengthy, detailed, and graphic interview which Long had 
held Saturday with Dr. Cronin. 

" Where are you going?" Long asked the Doctor. 

" To France," answered Dr. Cronin. 

Public opinion was now convinced. Nine men out of ten believed' 
that Dr. Cronin was alive. His steps were turned toward France 
One thing only was needed to remove the last lingering doubt — to 
make the chain of direct positive evidence of his existence in the 
flesh complete. Miss Murphy had started him near Division and 
Clark streets. Conductor Dwyer had sent him to the depot. Long 
and Starkey had received him in Canada and headed him for France 
The last link was to be welded to the chain. Evidently he was to 
appear in France, be seen there, and identified! A fortnight must 
now elapse for his passage across the ocean. 

To Dr. Cronin's friends this was a heavy blow They fell into 
disfavor. Those nearest to him held out stoutly that he was incap- 
able of such duplicity. They knew him to be an honorable, high- 



—16— 

minded, unselfish man, and more than one of them denounced this 
whole fabric as part and parcel of a fiendish conspiracy by which Dr. 
Cronin was lured to his death under the pretext of a professional call 
to alleviate the suffering of a fellow man. To these friends it was 
another proof of the subelety, the genius of the men who, far more 
than the ignorant tools who did the deed, were responsible for " the 
deep damnation of his taking off." 

A REWARD OFFERED. 

The following reward was offered by Dr. Cronin's friends, and 
societies to which he belonged : 

To the Pubhc: On the nignt of May 4, 1889, Dr. P. H. Cronin, a 
prominent and respectable physician of this city, was decoyed from 
his home to attend an alleged case of injury to an employe of an ice 
dealer in the town of Lake View. Since that time no trace of him 
has been found, and it is believed that he was made the victim of 
foul play, and that he is murdered. 

On belialf of his friends and fellow citizens, who think that his 
disappearance is due to a conspiracy, I hereby offer a reward of 
$5,000 for any information that may lead to the arrest and conviction 
of any of the principals in, accessories to, or instigators of this 
crime. 

A studied attempt seems to have been made, by false dispatches 
and other agencies in the public press, to create the impression that he 
is still alive and that his disappearance is voluntary. 

I am also autliorized to offer a further reward of $2,000 for any 
satisfactory evidence that will prove that he is not dead and that 
would lead to the discovery of his whereabouts. 

The public is asked to discredit any and all charges, reports, or 
insinuations reflecting in any manner upon his jjrofessional or per- 
sonal character. He was a man of temperate habits and lived a pure 
and unblemished life. 

The above rewards are offered by his friends and fellow citizens 
with the full conviction that a terrible crime has been committed, 
and with the view that law and order may be vindicated. 

James F. Boland. 
Chairman of Com. from Societies and Friends. 

DR CRONIN's body, FOUND. 

On the 22d of May, eighteen days after Dr. Cronin mysteriously 
disappeared, his bloated remains were discovered. Henry Roesch, a 
street foreman of Lake View, accompanied by two of his workmen, 
John Fenninger and William Nichols, were making an inspection of 
the sewer catch basins on Evanston avenue. As tliey approached the 



17— 



basin at the southeast corner of the avenue and Fifty-ninth street 
about 4:15 o'clock they noticed a most disagreeable stench. 

The nearer they approached the corner the stronger become the 
stench, and the most cursory examination of the grate which covers 
the ditch entrance to the sewer revealed to them whence it preceded. 
Protruding through the iron bars of the grate they were horrified to 
see the toes of a nude human body in an advanced stage of de- 
composition. 

ForemaD Koesch telephoned the fact of the ghastly discovery to 
Captain Wing, of the Lake View police, who preceded thither with 
the patrol wagon, accompanied by several officers. Arriving at the 

scene of the discovery the cover- 
ing of the man-hole was removed 
' .^IV- - ' , • and the attempt made to raise the 

body through it, but it had bloated 
to such an extent that this was 
found to be impossible. The 
whole cap of the sewer was then 
removed and finally the body was 
brought to the surface, not, how- 
ever, before the greater portion of 
the skin and much of the hair had 
been scraped off by coming in 
contact with the narrow opening. 
As soon as the body was placed 
before him at the side of the road 
Capt.Wing immediately recognized 
it as that of Dr. Cronin, It was 
entirely denuded of clothing, but a 
towel was wrapped about the head. The only thing the Doctor had 
worn in life that had been left to him in death was a Catholic safe- 
guard against injury, the "Agnus Dei," which appeared, in pitiful 
mockery to his fate, still clasped about his neck. The sewer hole is 
seven feet deep, about three feet in diameter, and contained twenty 
inches of surface water. The body had been thrust in head foremost 
through the man-hole from above, and had maintained an upright 
position, except that the legs had bent forward toward the ditch 
opening, so that the toes XJrotrudcd through the openings in the guard 
grate, and floating on the surface of the water was a quantity of 
bloody cotton batting, similar to that found in the trunk. The 
vicinity is one of almost utter loneliness, the nearest dwelling being 
a full block distant. The northeast corner is covered by a miniature 
forest of large trees, which would cast a concealing shadow over the 




—18— 

opposite corner, such as would be desired by one on murder bent. 
The other corners are quite vacant. The spot is wholly secluded, 
just the one to be selected by those engaged in a deed of such 
atrocity as that consummated by those who disposed of the remains 
of the murdered doctor. 

The corner of Fifty-ninth street and Evanston avenue is about 
300 yards from the Argyle Park station on the Chicago and Evanston 
branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Kailroad. It is but 
two or three blocks from the lake, and about nine-tenths of a mile 
north from the corner of Sulzer street and Evanston avenue, where 
the empty trunk was found on the day after Cronin's disappearance. 

The body was taken to the Morgue in Lake View and tele- 
phone messages were sent to the Chicago City Police. An hour 
after finding the body a dozen of Dr. Cronin's friends were at the 
station. The body was fearfully bloated, the skin hung in shreds 
about his feet and hands, and the eylids were swollen to such an 
extent that they had forced each other partly open. The head 
was a mass of bruises and gashes. There were eight of these 
ghastly wounds, almost any one of which would have caused instant 
death. Dr. Brandt of the County Hospital made an unofficial ex- 
amination of the wounds for reporters of the Chicago daily i^apers, 
as follows: A deep wound over the left temple four inches long 
through, the scalp and into the skull; over the left parietal bone a 
cut one and one-half inches long, which also marked the skull; 
also a cut one and one -half inches long over the frontal bone at 
the junction of the left parietal; a cut tliree inches long through 
the scalp, and marking the occipital bono; another two inches long 
also marking the occipital bone; a large bruise back of the fore- 
head on the right jjarietal bone, and near it two cuts, each an inch 
long, and marking the skull; bruises on the left leg; and a severe 
contusion, apparently made by a bludgeon, on tlie forehead. The 
Doctor said the blows must have been made by some sharp instru- 
ment, perhaps an ice-pick. He said if the instrument had not been 
sharp tlie skull would have been fractured, whereas it was only 
indented or marked by the blows, thereby causing a projection on 
the inside of the skull and a pressure on the brain. 

THE BODY IDENTIFIED. 

The remains were identified as those of Dr. Cronin by John F. 
Scanlan, T. T. Conklin, Frank Scanlan, James Boland, Patrick Mc- 
Garry, Mortimer Scanlan, William Taylor a nopliow of Dr. Cn^nin's, 
Mr. O'Keofc, and Mr. Ahearn who were the Doctor's tailors, T. J. 
Gleason, and others. The lock of hair found in the trunk was sub- 
mitted to Dr. Brandt who declared it matched exactly with the 



—19— 

hair on the body at the Morgue. Dr. C. W. Lewis, dentist, who had 
a cast of Dr. Cronin's lower jaw for a set of teeth, compared it 
with the mouth of the corpse, and said there was no doubt that 
the body was Dr. Cronin's. He was positive of it. Cotton was 
found about the feet and under the chin of the corpse of the same 
quality as that found in the trunk. The identification was com- 
plete Dr. Cronin was murdered, and murdered deliberately. That 
the deed had been fiendishly planned and carried out, his mangled 
corpse furnished the damning proof. 

"good-by asthore." 

The body of the murdered man was removed by Birren & 
Carroll, undertakers, from Lake View to the Second Regiment Ar- 
mory on Michigan avenue, on the same day it was found, and pre- 
parations for its interment in Calvary Cemetery were begun. A 
committee of arrangements for the funeral obsequies was appointed 
at a meeting of citizens and friends of the deceased, and notice 
was given that the public would be given an opportunity to see 
the remains at the Armory in the afternoon. A detail of police- 
men were sent from the Central Station. A catafalque sixteen feet 
square was prepared, and the casket containing the body arrived 
at 4:30 p. m. It was of beautiful workmanship; a metalic case 
handsomely mounted in gold. All the trimmings were gold, and 
from each of the handles was suspended a gold cord and tassel. 
The veneering was French walnut, and i)roduced a beautiful con- 
trast. In the center of each panel of the lid was a gold wreath 
of approjjriate design, the flowers being roses and pansies. Some 
tiny buds were delicately set in among the leaves« The plate was 
silver. The inscription was as follows: 

PHILIP PATRICK HENRY CRONIN, 
Born Aug. 7, 1846; 
Died May 4, 1889. 

Shortly after the casket was placed on the catafalque Mr. and 
Mrs. Carroll, of St. Catherines, Canada, the brother-in-law and sister 
of the deceased appeared and desired to see the remains. 

"It is my brother!" the lady cried, and the tears commenced 
to fall fast on the cold glass cover over which she leaned and that 
separated her lips from tlio hfoless form. She tried to kiss the 
disfigured face before her, but her lips pressed against the glass 
surface of the case while her heartrending sobs echoed in the 
great drillroom. Her husband was almost overcome with emotion 
and the group of men that stood about, silently watched the scene 
and were deeply moved. 



—20- 

" Come, let us go," said Mr. Carroll tenderly, taking his wife's 
arm. The lady leaned over the casket, leaving reluctantly. As she 
stepped back she said lovingly, "Good-by, asthore," and her hus- 
band's support was necessary as she walked away. After Mr. and 
Mrs. Carroll had viewed the remains, the Hd was replaced and the 
undertaker instructed not to open it again. 

A canopy was then erected over the catafalque. The draping 
was white and black. Three large flags were stretched above and 
formed a covering for the whole. A crayon likeness of Dr. Cronin 
rested on an easel at the left of the casket, and a floral cross 
stood at the head. Between the casket and the floral cross was a 
candelabra with seven lighted candles; it was supported by a cru- 
cifix. The sides of the casket were decorated with smilax and roses 
and a bunch of roses rested on tlie foot. The corners of the cata- 
falque were filled with blooming hydrangeas. 

A guard of the Hibernian Rifies and the Knights of St. Patrick 
was on duty. Each relief v/as in charge of a corps of officers. 

The doors were thrown open at 7 o'clock. A large crowd 
waited anxiously for admission. Many were disappointed to find 
the body was not open to public view. All evening the people 
passed through the canopy and glanced at the casket and the in- 
scrii)tion, while many devout Catholics knelt and i)rayed. 

DR. CRONIN'S FUNERAL. 



THE PROCESSION, RELIGIOUS SERVICES AND INTERMENT OP THE 
i;ODY IN CALVARY CEMETERY. 



g "God save Ireland!" said the heroes; 

"God save Ireland!" said they all; 
"Whether on the scaiTold high 
Or the battle-field we die, 
Oh, what matter when for Erin dear we fall." 
"Never again, said the Inter Ocean, the morning succeeding the 
funerfil, will patriotic Irish hearts thrill to the melodious voice of 
Philip H. Cronin. 

Tender ballads of the green isle, stirring martial melodies, sorrow- 
ful lamentation for the martyr dead, or fierce threat of vengeance of 
Ireland's foes fell from the singer's lips each with expression that 
had no equal. 

He had a noble voice and when raised in song or speech it car- 
ried its audience with it. 

Somber sadness pervaded tlie Second Regiment Armory where 
lay in state the body of the murdered citizen. 



—21— 

It was still early morning when the doors of the Armory were 
thrown open to the public, but even then the crowds who desired to 
view the scene were so dense that they completely filled the street 
without. 

For two hours a steady stream of humanity poured through the 
doors and filed two by two past the catafalque. Some had come out 
of respect for the dead, and a great number out of curiosity, but the 
face of each was sorrowful, and the eyes of some filled with tears as 
they gazed upon the casket and. the portrait of the assassinated pat- 
riot. 

Finally the crowds without and the curiosity seekers within, who 
persisted in remaining around the catafalque, became so dense as to 
be unmanageable; the assistance of the police was demanded to keep 
them in order. One squad of officers was stationed at the entrance to 
reduce the number seeking entrance to the capacity of the doors; an- 
other at the foot of the casket to keep the crowds in line, and still an- 
other at the head to keep them moving toward the exit. It is esti- 
mated that fully eight thousand people passed under the canopy of 
the catafalque, and when the time came to remove the casket there 
were almost that many who had not gained entrance to the building. 

Just before the funeral procession v/as formed a scene of pitiful 
sadness was witnessed by those surrounding the casket. A lady 
dressed in the deepest mourning, a large black veil falling to the 
ground, was led to the casket on the arm of an elderly gray-bearded 
gentleman. They were the brother and sister of the murdered doctor. 
The crowd pressed back reverently as they approached the catafalque 
and a hush fell over the throng. The lady knelt a moment beside the 
portrait at the head of the casket in silent prayer, weeping the while 
convulsively. Raising her veil she pressed her lips upcai those of the 
portrait, and, kissing them twice, cried: 

"Oh! my brother, my poor brother!" 

The weeping of many ladies, afl:"ected by the scene, broke the 
the hushed stilhiess and the eyes of many men were wet with tears. 

It was just 11 o'clock when the hall was cleared to allow the 
pall-bearers to take charge of the remain s. With the emblems of 
mourning tied about their arms they approached the catafalque two 
by two, headed by a guard of honf)r from the Hibernian Rifies com- 
posed of Lieutenants P. and M. Sullivan, O'Neil, Miland, Kennedy, 
and Monahan. 

The active pall-bearers were ten in numl)er and wei-e led by W. P. 
Rend and John F. Scanlau. The others wei-e: Luke Dillon, of Phila- 
delphia; Captain Edward O'Meagher C(mdon, of New York; Thomas 
P. Tuite, of Detroit; John T. Golden, D. M. Sullivan, Frank T. Scan- 



—22— 

Ian, Patrick McGarry, and Thomas McEnerny, all officers of the vari- 
ous societies to which Dr. Cronin had belonged. 

The honorary pall-bearers were Professor J. P. Louth, Dr. D. G. 
Moore, John F. Beggs, Joseph C. Bradn, L. Bohrer, Edward C. Con- 
nery, O. D. Shoemaker, J. O'Callaghan, M. J. Kelly, and Dudley 
Solon. 

With uncovered heads the active pall-bearers reverently lifted 
their lifeless burden, and carried it slowly to the hearse without, where 
it stood in a double line of a regiment of the Hibernian Kifles. As 
the funeral party appeared at the door of the armory the murmur of 
the thousands of voices without was hushed in silence, and as the cas- 
ket was placed in the hearse there was a universal uncovering of 
heads. The mourners had already entered their carriages, and when 
the pall-bearers had taken their seats the procession took up its way 
to the beat of muffled drums and the sound of the funeral march, the 
military organizations trailing arms in sorrow for the dead. 

The line of march to the Cathedral of the Holy Name, where the 
funeral ceremonies were to be conducted, was from the Aimory north 
on Michigan avenue to Rush street, north on Rush street to Chicago 
avenue to State street to the church. 

The procession was formed as follows: 

Cordon of Police: 

Chief Marshal Cahill and Aides Hayes and Baden. 

Hibernian Rifles. 

Hearse and Mourners. 

Ten Lodges Royal Arcanum. 

Tliree Lodges Royal League. 

Clau-na-Gael Guards. 

Uniformed Rank Royal Arcanum. 

Ancient Qj-der of Hibernians. 

Lake Side Cornet Band. 

Uniformed Rank Independent Order Foresters. 

Nevin's Band. 

Illinois Catholic Order of Foresters. 

Citizens in Carriages. 

The i)rocession contained about eight thousand people and con- 
sumed lifty-eight minutes in passing a given point. There were 100 
of the Hibernian Rifles, under the command of Captain T. J. Ford, 
and twice that number of the Clan-na-Gael Guards, Captain William 
l>uckley commanding. The Ancient Order of Hibernians were 1,000 
strong and were commanded by State Delegate P. M. Carmody and 
County Delegate M. Dowling. Tlie Foresters mustered nearly 1,200 
men from sixty courts, and the United Workmen 800 from twelve 
courts. William Kilpatrick commanded the former and J. F, Walter 
the latter. 



—23- 




—24^ 

The route of the procession was lined with people from the Arm- 
ory to the Church, and it was with difficulty in many places that the 
cordon of police could clear the way. The avaible windows of almost 
every house along the line of march were filled with persons anxious 
to view the scene. 

The Cathedral was besieged with people long before the pro- 
cession down town had started on its way, but it was only a very 
small proportion who were allowed to enter the Church, and the 
majority of those who did gain entrance were forced to stand 
througli the entire service. Those who came first were admitted, 
and when the side seats were filled the doors were shut, the middle 
aisles being i-eserved for tlie mourners, pall-bearers, officers of 
the societies in the procession, and friends of Dr. Cronin. 

It was just 12 o'clock when the head of the procession reached 
the Church. 

The Hibernian Rifles were drawn up in two lines before the 
Cathedral, allowing the hearse, mourners, and pall-bearers to pass 
between them to the Church steps. At the door the casket was 
met by Dean N. J. Mooney beai-ing the large cross of the Church, 

Led by him and escorted by the guard of lienor from the 
Hibernian RiHes the pall-boarers bore their burden down the 
center aisle of the Churcli and deposited it tenderly on the cata- 
falque l)efore the altar rail, the organ meanwhile filling the vast 
edifice with the solemn strains of a funeral march. Six candles 
shed a weird glare over the casket, and threw tlieii- yellow light 
upon the mourners who surrounded it. 

The front seats on tiie left were occupied by the pall-bearers 
and those on the riglit by relatives and near friends of Dr. Cronin. 
Among the latter were: Mrs. Carroll, sister, Mr. W. S. Cronin, 
brother, and William Taylor, nephew, of tlie deceased; Mr. and Mrs. 
T. T. Conklin, Mrs. John F. and Mrs. Mortimer Scanlan, and James 
F. Boland. 

Requiem high mass, with its solemn chants and impressive 
jorayers and imposing ceremonies, was said, the Rev. P. J. Agnew 
acting as celebrant and Deacon N. J. Mooney and Sub-deacon F. 
P. Perney assisting, Brother Dondusand officiating. 

Father Muldoon preached the funeral sermon, which was as 
follows : 

Man knoweth not his own end; as the fislies are taken with a, 
hook, and as the birds are cauglit with the snare, so men will be 
taken in the evil time, and it shall come upon them suddenly.— 
Eccles. ix, 12. 

In the name of tlie Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
amen. 



—25— 

These words I have just recited to yon from the inspired writer, 
my beloved friends, tell us by example and analogy that death 
comes upon us suddenly — tbat it shall come, as we are told else- 
where "as a thief in the night." As the birds in the air have their 
being in the air, and drink it in and live their life mainly in the air, 
and as the fishes have their life in the sea, they shall find their 
death, in that element in which they have their life. And so, too, 
we who are here living upon the earth, having our life, as it were, 
in the social world round about us, finding our being there — we, 
too, frequently find our death there, unawares and suddenly. In 
fact, we carry death in and around and about us, even, I may say, 
in our very being, for from the moment of our birth until the 
moment of our death, death is ever with us, death is ever working 
m our members. It is death that is for ever bearing us down; it 
is death that is ever causing the ailments of humanity, which are 
a premonition of what is to come; and, as the sacred writers have 
told us; no matter when death comes it will always come suddenly 
to us. We can never be enough prepared for it. We can never 
take it unawares, but it will too frequently take us unaware. 

The lesson, then, taught us to-day by this text is that we should 
be prepared to meet this death whenever and wherever it shall 
come; and passing from the text of to-day to him whose memory 
we serve, it teaches us the lesson that death often comes as sudden 
as a thief in the night. It comes to snatch us away from all social 
relations, to take us away from home, to take us away from friends, 
family, and ail that is dear to us; to take us from earth to heaven, 
to take us from time to eternity. Death points this out to us, and 
his death should teach us a strong and emphatic lesson. If he 
(pointing to the bier) were here to-day to talk to you he would not 
ask for an eulogy on his life, but he would ask you to take a 
lesson home to yourselves from his life to make you purer, richer, 
and better. He would say: "By my life so guide your own. If 
there is anything in my death to teach you to value life, to teach 
you to value Christ, and Almighty God, and the Holy Church, and 
the sacraments— oh! take it home to your own hearts, and make it 
part of yourselves. If I have suffered, let my suffering be a lesson 
to you; let it come home to your hearts and make you better and 
holier." His life and his death, dear friends, teach lis to make our- 
selves better, teach us to make ourselves holier, and to prepare 
ourselves for our last moment. 

What a change is here from a couple of weeks ago! To-day 
friends dear and near to him bore all that is mortal of him up this 
aisle to receive the last rites of the church; and only two weeks ago 
that same person walked this floor and came up these aisles in all 
the vigor of his manhood. He came here with all the charity of his 
faith and nature to worship at the same altar before which and 
on which to-day his obsequies are said. Oh ! this is a strong lesson 
to us. Who would think when he led that body of men here to 
the sacrament of the altar to make himself purer and better — who 
would think that in the short term of two weeks that health and 
vigor and manhood would be snatched ]-uthlessly from him? But 
such was the fact; and this death, so sadden and awful, may be 
ours — if not in the same manner, in other manners, equally sudden, 
if not as atrocious. 



—26— 

Therefore the lesson is brought home to us to be always prepared 
lest God should strike us, for His angel is always coming- from Him 
to touch the young and the old, the deformed and the beautiful, and 
his touch is enough to call them from this earth to the land above. 

And now, my dear friends, have we reason to be sorry to-day? 
Have we reason to mourn that our friend has gone from us? No, my 
friends; there is no reason for mourning the death of a person who 
has lived a religious life. As the epistle tells us, the religious man, 
and one pleasing to God the Father, is he who visits the orphans and 
widows in their tribulation, and he is one, too, who preserves himself 
undetiled from the world. I shall not pronounce his eulogy, but ex- 
amine his life in the light of this text, and see whether or not he was 
religious, and if his life was a rehgious life, and if it was, we must 
inevitably come to the conclusion that he was pleasing to Almighty 
God, and now enjoys the repose promised by Almighty God to those 
who serve him while on earth. _ Religion pure and undefiled is to 
visit the widow and orphan. Did he do that? What was his avo- 
cation and mission in life? It was the grandest and noblest after the 
avocation of priest. It was to deal out charity— a charity of word 
and charity of example, to minister to the unfortunate, to heal the 
ailments of human life. This was his mission and this his vocation. 
Did he fulfill his vocation; I ask you here in the presence of his 
mortal remains, did he carry out his vocation? Most assuredly, my 
friends, he did so. And why did he do so. The very manner in 
whicii lie met his death will tell you in more emphatic terms than I 
can possibly utter. A call comes that a fellow being is in suffering. 
Other things are crowded upon him — other business demands were 
calling for him. But he hearkened to the call of humanity. He was 
told that a fellow-m;ni was sick and instantly, without hesitation, 
with his heart full of charity, and in his hands the very instruments 
to bring relief and mercy to a fellow being, he goes forth with mercy, 
charity, and good will to his fellow-man and — meets what? An atro- 
cious death! In the fulfillment of his mission, in the very carrying 
out of his avocation, ho met his own death! Must we not say, then, 
that meeting his death, thus fulfilhng liis mission and performing 
his duty, whatever there may have been against him, if there was sin 
upon his soul of any kind whatever, he shall be remembered before 
the throne of Almighty God? Yes, be did visit the widows and 
orphans and as the anecdotes and sayings about him pass away, 
coming to us as straggling rivulets to swell the stream of his worth, 
and to show that him wlio we mourn had a noble Christian heart, 
and that is what we can not say of many to-day. Ho had a good 
heart, a Christian heart, a Catholic heart, and that heart was full of 
love and charity toward his fellow-man. Was he ever a man opposite 
or opposed to the good of his fellow-man? Was he not ever anxious 
to improve the lot and well being of his fellow-men? Look at the 
associations to which he belonged. Everyone of those associations 
has its being and life in those things which are for the betterment of 
man. 

I have often heard him urge those who are poor and of little 
means to join those associations in order to make themselves thrifty 
and better, and to build up for themselves a home here, and provide 
for their children a means to live decently afterward. Was not this 
patriotic? Was not this the best thing a human being can do on 



—27— 

earth, to strive with all his power to better his fellow-man, to make 
his home more agreeable, and leave an inheritance for posterity? 
Most assuredly it was; and most assuredly we must conclude that his 
life was righteous, good, and holy. And did he preserve himself un- 
spotted from the world? He lived a public life, a life with the peo- 
ple and among the people. He was in every sense of the word a 
public man, known of thousands, as the thousands hereto-day testify; 
and if there was anything wrong or sinful in his life, long ere this it 
would have been brought forward in triumph. But now no single 
finger of scorn or imputation can be pointed toward him. After his 
life has been laid before you we know that he had a good, Christian, 
Catholic heart, and that his heart went out to his f ellowmen, and that 
in all his dealings with his fellowmen he was never in any sense 
greatly sinful — that he was not small or mean toward or in his deal- 
ings with his fellowmen. 

What better eulogy can we pronounce upon him than this? 
None. We have forgotten half our duty to-day if in our presence 
here whilst the priest has offered up for him the holy sacrament of 
the mass, we have not let our own hearts go out in charity, holiness, 
and love toward him that is gone. 

Now he is pow^erless; his days are past, and the church has done 
what she possibly can for him through her prayers and sacrifices. 

It remains for you to do something for him. We believe that 
there is a hereafter, and that there is a probation for the small defects 
and defilements of sin that may be upon the soul after death. 

It remains for us, his friends — for there is a communion of saints 
— to offer up our alms, to offer our prayers and the holy sacrifice of 
the mass that his soul may quickly and surely find rest and peace 
with God eternal. That is your duty, my friends, to-day. As Catho- 
lics and Christians this is imposed upon you, and if you forget it or 
neglect it you are not truly his friends. 

Any more words of praise will be useless for him. But your 
prayers, the prayers of the poor and defenseless that he helped, will 
go as a sacred cry to the throne of God and will not be resisted, for 
God will hear it and take him to the bosom of his fathers. Let us 
then not forget to promise that we will as friends and Christians do 
something for him, and in the purity of our faith, let us imitate the 
purity of his faith, the faith that he drank in with his mother's milk 
and that lasted him through life. There never v/as a time in the 
associations or organizations to which he belonged, or anywhere else 
that he denied that faith, that he ever was ashamed to acknowledge 
that he was a Catholic and held to the tenets and belief of the church. 
He could say: "After my title of Catholic, my title of patriot is prom- 
inent, and I am not ashamed to confess it to the world. I am willing 
to sacrifice anything in order to defend my term of Catholicity, and I 
am willing to do all in my power to help along the poor men of our 
country." 

Therefore, my friends, j)ray for him who is gone. Let your 
prayers be that his soul may find rest. Rememember him in your 
daily prayers. Remember him in the places you used to met him. 
Remember him when on your knees before tlie throne of God. He 
was snatched from the earth Avithout the sacraments of the church; 
he had not even the soothing words of the jjriest to bring him more 
quietly to his end, to help him on the x)erilous journey toward an- 



—28— 

other life; hut as I said, he met his death in the performance of his 
duty, and tiiat supphed in part the place of the sacrament. 

Pray for him. Breathe his name with love; and as his body 
moulders in the earth, he may say to you: " Have pity upon me, 
you, my friends. Have pity on me, for I am now helpless and de- 
fenseless. I have no power in my own hands, but your hands are full 
of alms deeds and of blessings and. prayers, and let them ascend be- 
fore the throne of Almighty God that I may have rest and peace. 
Treat all with kindness as my life has been one of kindness — treat 
them with charity, as my life has been one of charity. If any one 
say aught against me let it pass forgiven. The words of man are 
nothing and pass away as the wind from the mouth. Receive them, 
then, and mind them not, and those who have injured me most, in 
the name of mercy have pity on them." 

Receive, then, oh God, liis soul. Be merciful to him for his 
faith and his hope and his love." 

TO CALiVAKY CEMF.TEKY. 

"It was, pcrluips, 1:30 o'clock before tlie funeral cortege started 
from the churcli and began to wend its way slowly and solemnly to 
the Union depot. 

While services were being lield in the church, the various organ- 
izations had arranged themselevs on either side of the street for 
several squares, leaving a clear passage way for the hearse, the pall- 
bearers and the chief mourners, and as these passed down between 
the uncovered mourners, the ranks were closed up and each organi- 
zation fell into line in the same order as they left the Cavalry 
Armory. 

South on State street they went to Erie, to Dearborn, to Lake, 
to Clark, to Madison, to Canal, to the dei)ot. 

Along the entire line of march the streets were thronged with a 
quiet, orderly crowd of seeming respectability a ad reverential mein. 
The windows and door-stops of the houses, and even some of the 
house-tops themselves, wero likewise crowded. At the depot, as at 
the church, the throng was unlimited. As the cortege came down 
Canal street thousands of men and women i>ourod out of evoiy cross 
street in the vicinity and fairly packed themselves in an almost un- 
movable body from one end of the long depot to the other. 

The hearse drew up to the baggage-room entrance, the colIin 
was laid tenderly by the pall-bearers on a truck, and the ijrocession 
passed on U) tlio extreme soutli entrances to the depot and sought 
the cars. Tlirce trains of twelve coaches each were needed to ac- 
commodate the 1^)00 people who accompanied the remahis of Dr. 
Cronin to the cemetery. The hist two j^assenger coaches of the first 
train were occupied rcepectively l)y the relatives and chief mourners 
of the deceased, and by the ijall-bearers. 



—29— 

When the first train reached Calvary Cemetery it was met by 
fully 2,000 persons who had come out from the city and the surround- 
ing towns by carriages. The second and third train unloaded their 
living freight before the occupants of the first train, which were 
mostly members of organizations who took part in the procession, 
had formed in line to march through the cemetery to the vault. 
Again the casket was placed on a truck, and the cortege took up its 
final line of march. 

Fully 5,000 people gained admittance to the cemetery, and it was 
with more or less difficulty that the procession moved through the 
immense throng. 

The vault in which the mortal remains of Dr. Philip Patrick 
Henry Cronin now rests is situated in the northwestern jjart of the 
cemetery. Though of pretentious size, rising up from the level of 
the ground into proportions of a hillock, it is exceptionally plain 
and modest appearing in its masonry front. Over the portals of the 
large iron doors through which the body of the Irish patriot was 
carried a large shield is cut in the wall containing the following words: 

ERECTED 

BY 

THE RIGHT REV. 

JAMES DUGGAN, D. D., 

BISHOP OF CHICAGO. 
1859. 

The body guard of Hibernian Rifles stood at the entrance of the 
vault, and with lifted rifles formed an arch under which the casket 
was carried. Only the i>all-bearers and the chief mourners were 
allowed inside the vault, where they remained but a few moments 
while the several beautiful floral pieces were being arranged. 

When they issued forth and sought the train all was over; the 
end of the first act of a great tragedy was consummated, and the 
crowd quietly dispersed." 

PUBLIC SENTIMENT AROUSED OVER THE MURDER. 



SEARCHING FOR QLEWS. 

In the history of Chicago, no event since tho t^yoni fire in 1871, 
so stirred the public heart of the city as the diabolical murder of 
Dr. Cronin, and the evident attempt to blind the people and the 
authorities to tlie real facts of the terrible crime. The horror oi 
the sickening tragedy was felt on all hands, and found expression 
in numerous ways. A determination to discover the murderers al 
any cost of time, labor and money pervaded the community. The 
Police instituted a general search. The Pinkerton Agency was set 



—30- 

to work, and a large number of detectives was employed on the 
case. 

A CLUE. 

F. G. Woodruff, a hostler, was arrested on Thursday succeeding 
Dr. Cronin's disappearance for horse stealing, and confined in the 
Twelfth Street Police Station. He had been in his cell but a short 
time before he sent for Captain Simon O'Donnell saying that he 
wanted to make a confession. He astounded the worthy Captain 
by stating that he was none other than the mysterious driver of 
the wagon which contained the blood-stained trunk found in Lake 
View the morning after Dr. Croniu disappeared. The prisoner gave 
the names of his confederates in the mysterious affair, and declared 
it to be his belief that the trunk contained the body of a patient 
of Dr. Cronin's who had died from malpractice. He believed like- 
wise, he said, that the doctor had left the city Jfearing arrest 
and punishment. After the body of the murdered man was found, 
this statement was looked upon as another pointer in the direc- 
tion of a deep-laid conspiracy. 

It was ascertained that Woodruff arrived in Chicago three 
weeks previously. He was '= seedy" and, as one reporter expressed 
it, was "way down on his uppers." He claimed to be an all around 
hostler, and made application at various livery stables for employ- 
ment. The last place he applied for work was at the stables of 
C. Dean & Co., at No. 228 Webster avenue. Mr. Dean took pity on 
the man's deplorable condition and put him to work in the capa- 
city of a hostler. Woodruff seemed to be a good man and did 
very satisfactory work until Tuesday night. May 7. On that even- 
ing he got permission from Mr. Dean to use one of his rigs to 
take a lady friend out driving. Tuesday night Woodruff and the 
rig did not return. Mr. Dean thought his new hostler might have 
developed into a horse-thief, and he reported the case to the police. 

On Thursday morning. May 9, a man stopped at Foley's 
stables on West Madison street near Jefferson with a horse and 
cart for sale. He wanted $125 for the outfit, but in a few moments 
dropped to $75. Mr. Foley's suspicions were at once aroused. He 
gave the fellow ton dollars as a guarantee and wont out ostensibly 
to procure the rest of the money, telling his men to keep a sharp 
look-oat oji the sti-angcr and not permit him to escape. Foley 
went to the West Twelft Street Station and reported the case. It 
was ascertained that Dean's lost property corresponded with that 
offered to Foley, and a couple of oflicerB Avere sent to the hitter's 
stable and took the stranger into custody. 

WoodrufT (the name he gave first) is about twenty-eight years 



-31- 

old. His lioig'nt is six feet. Ilia month is large, and his left eye 
slightly crossed. He stated that on the Wednesday evening pre- 
ceding Dr. Cronin's abduction he was at the Owl Saloon on State 
street, where he met one Billy King, an old acquaintance. After 
some conversation had passed between them, he said King told him 
he could xjut him in the way of making a stake easily. At that 
iJme King refused to explain how it could be done, but said he 
would look Woodruff up in a day or two and give him the job. 
"On Saturday evening about dusk" said Woadruff "I saw King 
talking near the livery stable. He beckoned to me. I joined him 
and we went into a saloon cind took a couijle of drinks. He asked 
me if I could get a horse and light wagon out of the stables with- 
out any one seeing me and meet him at the corner of Webster and 
Lincoln avenues at one o'clock that night. He said if I could, 
there was $25 in, it for mo. I told him I could do it, and asked 
him what the job was. He replied: 'Just to carry a box a little 
ways out in the country and leave it.' He would not tell me any- 
thing more about it." 

Woodruff detailed the circumstances of getting a wagon and 
horse from the stable at 2 o'clock in the morning after the other 
stable hands were asleep; of running the wagon out at the back 
door and wrapping the horse's feet with rags to muffle them, and 
leading it down the tramway into the alley, where he harnessed it 
to the wagon; of meeting King at the appointed place; of driving 
to a barn two blocks from Lincoln Park where two men emerged 
from the alley door carrying a trunk with them which seemed 
rather heavy. He says the gas burned dimly in the barn but that 
he saw both men quite plainly; that one was Richard Fairburn, 
and the other he believed was Dr. Cronin. He gave a description 
of tlie latter which corresponded well with the Doctor's appearance; 
said that he had a black eyo n]id looked as if he had been ter- 
ribly "done up," and that hi-i companions always addressed him as 
" Doc," that the latter was much agitated, complained of Woodruff's 
late arrival and urged them to hurry up and get away with the load. 
Woodruff' proceeded to give the course taken and what was done 
with the body, but this part of the story was soon discredited. 

W'nen Woodruff was confronted with the policemen at Mr. 
Foley's stable he was completely prostrated, and nearly fainted 
away. He would have fallen to the floor had not one of the ofR- 
cers supported him. 

Shortly after his so-called confession was made, he gave it out 
that Woodruff was an assumed name; that his real name is Fred. 
J. Black; that he was born in Woodstock, a little tov. n not far from 



London, Ontario. Detectives Halle and O'Malley in speaking of 
Black say he is evidently a "tough character" and that he is fa- 
miliar with all the prominent crooks in San Francisco, Denver, 
Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and Cincinnati. It was soon ascer- 
tained that much of his pretended confession was a deliberate 
fabrication, and a suspicion followed that it v/as mainly framed by 
the instigators of the crime to throw the police off the track. But 
enough remained to fasten upon the culprit his agency in moving 
the mysterious trunk found in Lake View, which doubtless con- 
tained the mutilated remains of Dr. Cronin. 

Chief Hubbard testified before the Coroner's jury that Wood- 
ruff (or Black), subsequently told him that he drove to the vicin- 
ity of the Carlson Cottage, and at a signal, went there, and that 
the trunk was there placed in the wagon. He said, further, that 
he believed Detective Coughlin was one of the men who lielped to 
lift the trunk into the wagon, and accompanied it on its fateful 
journey. 

THE SECOND CLUE. 

A few days after Woodruff (or Black, as he says liis real name is), 
was arrested the police believed they were fairly on ibo ti-ack of the 
Cronin mui'derers. The fact was discovered tl)at the assassins, or 
some of them, had occupied rooms in the third story of the biiilding 
No. 117 Clark street, from February 19tli or thereabouts until the 
first of April. Mr. E. G. Throckmorton is the cashier for Knight & 
Marshall, real estate agents. On tlie 19th of Fobi'uary he rented the 
top floor of No. 117 Clark street to a man wlio gave his name as J. B. 
Simons for 1^12 a month. Tliis man paid liim a liiontli's rent in ad- 
vance and toolv a lease of the premises and a rec('li>l Tor tlie month's 
rent. On tiio 19th of March tlie collector for Knight Sc Marshall 
called for the next montli's rent but no one was in the rooms. The 
collector looked through the letter hole in the door and sav/ some 
furnituro in rooms 12 and 15. He callojl jigain on tlio 20th with a 
like result. On the 21st he made the thii-d ('.d] und .s;i\v tlio furniture 
was gone. Mr. Throckmorton described tlto man as being about 25 
years old, 5 feet 1}4 inches or 8 inches tall; would probably weigh 165 
or 170 pounds. He had dark hair and eyes, also a mustache rather long 
and drooping. He wore a ligJit Derby hat, and a sliort.napped chin- 
chilla overcoat. He had quite a roll of money when he paid the rent. 
When the man was referred to Mr. Marshall by Mr. Throckmorton, 
the man said he was from outside the city, and could give no refer- 
ences. He said he was renting the rooms for a sick man who was 
coming to the city to be treated for some ailment. "I thought," said 
Marshall, " it was strange when he only wanted two rooms that he 



—33— 



should be willing to take the entire floor, but I imagined that perhaps 
the sick man for whom he rented them wanted to sub-rent them and 
so help out on his expenses while he was undergoing treatment. 
I didn't think he was a very desirable tenant, but it was so near the 
end of the renting year that I thought we could stand it to m.ake 
him a lease until May 1st. These rooms would give him almost per- 
fect seclucion, as the fourth floor is at the top of the house, with a 
solid brick wall on either side. The floor below is occupied by a sign 
painter. Dr. Cronin's office in the Chicago Opera House is jnst 
across the way, and I remember the book-keeper telling me that the 
man wanted just that paticular location. 




THE CAR! , HON COTTAGE. 

At No. 1872 North Ashland avenue stands a small one-story cot- 
tage, owned by Jonas Carlson, a Swede, who resides in the rear. On 
the 20th of March Mr. Carlson rented the cottage to a man who said 
his name was Frank Williams. Mr. Carlson says the man told him 
he had three brothers, and a sister also who was going to keep house 
for them. But that it might be three days or a week before she came. 
He rented the house and paid $12 for it, taking a receipt for the 
money. The money covei-ed a month's rent from March 20th to April 
20th. 



This cottage is but a short distance from the house of P. O'Sul- 
livan. Jonas Carlson says that when the men went out of the yard 
O'SulHvan was standing in his back yard. WilHams went over to him 
but he could not hear any conversation between them. When asked 
if he (Carlson) spoke to O'SuUivan about this man, he replied: "Yes. 
It was a week before the second month's rent was due that I went to 
O'Sullivan and asked him if he knew the man." He said, "Yes: I 
know one of the men : He is all right. Is the rent due?" I said 
" no, not until the 20th of April." He was not at home at that time 
and the man paid the rent, $12, to his wife, and their son gave a re- 
ceipt for it. Three or four days after the first month's rent was paid 
a few pieces of furniture were moved into the cottage. When the 
second month was paid, Mrs. Carlson asked the man why they did 
not move in. He reijlied that his sister was sick at the Hospital. At 
the inquest Mr. Carlson was asked: "Did you see this man any 
other time?" "Yes, I saw him one Saturday night." "Do you know 
the date?" "No; it was the same Saturday night that Dr. Cronin 
WHS lost. Then ho only looked out of the front door, and said he had 
got to lix up," "What tiiue of the night was that?" "It was be- 
tween 5 and 6 o'clock— something like that." "Was that all he said?" 
" Yes, that was all he said, and then he went in." " Did you hear 
him lix up that night?" "No; then I went out to the gate and heard 
two men talking in the house, but what they said I could not tell." 

In reply to a question Mr. Carlson said he had not seen them 
since. They had sent a letter from Hammond, Indiana, asking him 
to i)lace the furniture in the cellar for a few days, and saying they 
would pay him for his trouble. The letter was signed F. W. 

After waiting a few days l(3nger, the house was entered through 
the windows, the keys not having been returned. A paint pot and 
brush were found and paint had been rubbed over the floor. There 
were marks on the stei)S and in tlie hall as if made by bare feet. 

Charles J. Carlson, the son of Jonas Carlson, testified befoi-e the 
Coroner's jury to making out the receipts for the rent to Frank 
Williams. On the 20th of April he asked if he could get out a 
trunk and lounge owned by a former occupant. Being told ho 
could do so he went in with Williams. Tlie front room and bed 
room were furnished, and the carpet was tacked on the floor. He 
saw the furniture when it was brought. Williams talked to the 
expressman on the sidewalk. This witness was one who entered 
the liouse through the window. He saw that the recent occupants 
had not tried to paint the floor. The paint was smeared on in 
spots. He noticed the footstei)S in the hall and bedroom. Dark 



-35— 

spots on the floor, the south wall, the dresser and the key plate of 
the dresser, were examined, and believed to be blood stains. 

Lieut. Herman Scheutler visited the Carlson cottage May 23d, 
the day after the body of Dr. Cronin was discovered. He found 
blood spots on the floor, on the wall near the dressing-case, on the 
stairway, the fence, and the gangway over the ditch. He enumerated 
the articles of furniture in the house and their condition. An arm 
of the rocker was broken off and the lounge had been injured. The 
bed had not been occupied. Returning to the cottage the following 
day with Capt. Wing, he took a bar of soap, on which was a hair, 
and a piece of cotton batting found in the basement with some yel- 
low paint and blood on it. Officer Lorch found the key to the trunk 
under a bureau m the cottage. The lieutenant produced the sig- 
nature of J. B. Simons to the lease for the premises at No. 117 
Clark street, which he h ad cut of. The key found under the dresser 
exactly fitted the blood-stained trunk. 

An examination of the furniture revealed the letters A. H. R. & 
Co. A member of the lirm of A. H. Revel & Co. went out to Lake 
View and readily identified the articles. The books were consulted 
and very soon the police were in possession of information showing 
when the goods were sold, the name of the purchaser and when and 
where they were delivered. Mr. W. P. Hatfield was the salesman. 
He said " I sold the bill of goods, a imrt of which have been found 
in the Carlson house in Lake View. I see by my sales book that it 
was on February 19, and to the best of my recollection it was in the 
morning. I remember the buyer's appearance. He was young man, 
30 or 35 years of age, a well preserved fellow about my height, say 5 
feet 6'A inches, full faced and well built, weighing about 150 pounds. 
He had what I think was an English accent, had nice manners, an 
engaging way and the address of a business man. By the way he 
had a moustache, dark brown, with a reddish tinge. He was well 
dressed in a dark cut-away suit, brown overcoat, stiff derby hat with 
a fashionable, narrow brim. When he first came in he said he 
wanted to buy a few articles as cheap as they could be had, as they 
were only for temporary use. He was no trouble, and when I 
showed him the various styles he barely looked at them but invar- 
iably said he would leave it to my judgment. He finally selected the 
following articles: One chamber sot; one cane chair; one rocker; one 
outside door mat, one cheap hand satchel; one sx)ring mattress; two 
pillows; two comforters; one bowl and pitcher; one lamp; one large 
trunk; one trunk strap; one k)t oC carpet. When he had decided on 
this list he said, "I'll take these tlungs and come back directly and 
give you an address where to send them." I asked him his n ame, 



—36— 

and he said J. B. Simons. Then I gave him a memorandum of the 
purchase, and he went away. Later he came back and said the things 
were to be sent to No. 117 South Clark street. He said, " You can 
pile the plunder in room 15; No. 12 is my office." Then he paid for 
his purchases and went away. The next day the carpet was sent 
over and laid and the other goods delivered. Mr. Hatfield continued: 
" Now either later that same day or the next Thursday, the 21st, Mr. 
Simons came back to the store. He came to me and brought back 
the trunk strap saying it was not heavy enough and he wanted it 
changed. I said it was the heaviest we had in stock, but I could 
supply him in a moment, and with that I went over to Lanz, Owen & 
Co., corner of Lake and Fifth avenue, with whom we deal, and got a 
heavy strap which suited him, and that was the last I saw of Mr. J. 
B. Simons." 

Diligent search resulted in finding the expressman who moved 
these goods, or a portion of them, from No. 117 South Clark street, 
to the Carlson cottage. This completed the chain of evidence con- 
necting the parties who rented the rooms at No. 117 South Clark 
street opposite the building in which Dr. Cronin had his office down 
town, with the occupants of the Carlson cottage, where, there is not 
a shadow of doubt, the murdered man met his untimely end. 



THE FIGHT OF THE FACTIONS. 



THE FAMOUS CIKCUIiAE. 

It is foreign to the object of this pamphlet to detail the 
schisms and warring proceedings which have occured in the his- 
tory of the Clan-na-Gael, but to rightly understand the animus of 
Sullivan's partisans to Dr. Cronin, it is necessary to present the so- 
called treasonable letter or circular read by Dr. Cronin in his 
camp, and for which another camp expelled him from the Order, 
on a charge of treason. 

The initials used throughout the matter should be read as 
follows: "V. C," United Brotherhood; "F. C," Executive Body; 
"U. S.," United Sons; "D.," Camps; "L R. B.," Irish Republican 
Brotherhood; "R. D.," Revolutionary Directorate; "S. C," Supreme 
Council. The circular is as follows: 

Hkadquabters F. C. of V. C, Sept. 15, 1885.— 2^o the Officers 
and Memhera of the V. C. and of the U. .S'.— Bkotiieks : In ac- 
cordance with the call of the Committee of Safety a general con- 
vention of the V. C. was held in New York City, Aug. 3 and 1, for 
the purpose of taking the necessary measures to save the organi- 



—37— 

zation from the ruin which threatens it. A full account of its 
proceedings will be found in the printed report, to which we invite 
your attention. 

Having been chosen by the convention to fill a position of 
great difficulty and responsibility in the organization during this, 
the supreme crisis of its existence, we feel it to be our duty to lay 
before you the plain facts of the present situation, and to ask tlie 
assistance of every honest man in bringing about a remedy. We 
make this appeal without regard to the side you may have taken 
in the recent and present troubles, knowing full well that nine- 
tenths of the organizations are in a state of utter ignorance as to 
the actual facts, and that honest men have been led to sustain 
wrong. We make it more particularly to those who are support- 
ing and yielding blind obedience to men who have turned their 
backs on the I. R. B., thereby ignoring the fundamental principle 
which is the cause and object of our organization. If that sup- 
port is withdrawn an effective remedy can be at once applied. That 
there is trouble you will not now deny, and that it is serious enough 
to menace the existence of a once powerful organization and to 
threaten the ruin of the hopes that have hitherto stimulated our 
efforts for Ireland, every day will make more clear to your under- 
standing. The efforts at concealment made by the men who created 
this trouble, the withholding of information as to the wholesale 
suspension of D's, and the mendacious assertions made in recent 
circulars, have all failed of the desired effect; and in every D in the 
organization to-day there is gloom and discouragement, and mem- 
bers are fast falling away. No official denials, a thousand times 
repeated, can any longer conceal this fact. Every member from 
Mame to California can see it for himself. The truth is beginning 
to filter through the barriers set up against its entrance to the D's 
by desi)arate men, whose characters depend on its suppression. 
The frantic efforts and reckless statements of the army of paid or- 
ganizers sent round to counteract the progress of truth and avert 
the exposure of wrongdoing are useless and unavailing. Many of 
these are the men under accusation of complicity in tJie fraud, 
and they now use their money to deceive you and prolong the 
reign of dishonesty. Their prevarications, contradictions, and shuff- 
ling evasions are doing more to establish the truth of the charges 
against which they are vainly struggling than the strongest state- 
ment made in the interest of right and justice, and a spirit is 
gradually growing up in the organization which will jiroduce one 
of two results — reform and punishment of the evildoers, or disrup. 
tion of the organization and escajje of the prisoners. 



—38— 

THE KESULT. 

One or other of these results is inevitable. And whichever it is, 
it will be the clear and logical result of your action. Your with- 
drawal from the organization in dispair or disgust, will no more 
enable you to shake off your responsibility than if you give an 
active support to the criminals. Which result shall it be? The de- 
cision rests with you. If the men responsible for tliis state of 
things cannot succeed in stiiling all investigation into their mis- 
deeds, they would prefer to see the organization smashed. " Dead 
men tell no tales," They know that an honest investigation would 
overwhelm them, and they are fighting for existence. Therefore 
they are determined there shall be none, and every D that de- 
mands one is suspended or left without communication. This con- 
duct is capal)le of but one explanation, T]\ey cannot stand inves- 
tigation. T]ie question with them is: Shall their personal reputa- 
tions be destroyed, or the organization be ruined? And they have 
chosen the latter. Men with true instincts, and whose records 
were clean, would scorn to force themselves on any organization to 
handle its funds and direct its policy while under such accusations 
as liave been leveled against the Triangle. Men with the real good 
of Ireland and of the V. C. at heart would refuse to hold office at 
the expense of the unity and the efficiency of the organization. 
Looked at from any standpoint their conduct is indefensible and 
unpatriotic. No man fit for the duties of the liigh offices these 
men bold would acquire it by such means or hold on to it when 
acquired. No men wlio lionestly intended to aid the men at home 
to free Ireland — which is the fundamental principle of tlie V. C - 
would begin their official career by deceiving their colleagues in 
Ireland and persisting in carrying on any policy against their pro- 
test. 

Since tlie disastrous gathering, miscalled a convention, which 
met in Boston twelve months ago, the organization has been going 
from bad to wor&j. The deceit and trickery by which tliree mem- 
bers of the F. C. were enabled to continue themselves in power, 
and so change the whole form and object of the Order as to make 
it a convenient instrument for the furtherance of personal ambition 
at the expense of tlie personal cause of Ireland, have continued to 
play havoc in our ranks. The strength and vitality of the National 
movement have been shattered. The oldest and strongest D's are 
being driven out one by one, and a system of repression of free 
speech and sliam trials, copied fr(3m the worst features of British 
tyranny in England, is brouglit into requisition for tlie purpose of 
crushing all independence of thought and stilling the voice of pat- 



—39— 

riotism, No honest man in the V. 0. who sees and hears what is 
going on around him, can fail to recognize that ruin and disinte- 
gration must speedily make shipwreck of all our hopes, if a strong 
and vigorous remedy be not soon applied. No intelligent man can 
fail to see that every effort of the three men who have usurped 
the governing authority of the V.C., every dollar entrusted to them 
for the advancement of the cause, is being devoted to the main- 
tenance of their power, and to the work of driving from the organi- 
zation every man who charges them with wrong-doing, or who ad- 
vocates an investigation of the charges made. 

AN INVESTIGATION. 

That the aims and objects of the organization, and also its 
money, are being sacrificed to the neceesities of the war of self-de- 
fense waged by three desperate men must be plain to every intelligent 
man, and it must be equally plain that an honest, impartial investi- 
gation of the serious charges made against these men would put a 
speedy end to all this trouble by either convicting them of wrong- 
doing or their accusers of falsehood. In either case the organiza- 
tion would be freed from evil-doers and restored to harmony. Why, 
then, is such an investigation refused? The men who make the 
charges are ready to substantiate them and take the consequences. 
The accused men shirk an investigation, drive their accusers out of 
the organization so that their evidence may not be availabe, and 
hold on with the grip of desperation to the positions they are ac- 
cused of disgracing. 

Can any organization of intelligent, self-respecting men toler- 
ate such a state of affairs? You who submit to the scandalous 
methods by which it is kept up are making yourselves responsible 
for irreparable injury to the cause you are sworn to serve. 

Let us recapitulate the work of the Boston "Convention," the 
charges made against the Triangle, the disruptive jjolicy they liave 
since pursued, and the remedy we propose. We charge that the 
three members of the last F. C, who now constitute the Triangle, 
are solely responsible for the evils of their present situation, and 
that deceit and trickery have characterized their action at every 
step. There is no statement of theirs now i^romulgated that is not 
made for the iniri)ose of misleading the organization in regard to 
vital facts. These facts cover the i>ostponement and change of 
form of the convention, the i)roceedings of that body, the relations 
with the I. R. B., the disbursement of the largest sum of money over 
handled by any F. C, the authority and responsibility of the R. D., 
and the policy pursued. In short, they embrace every question of 



—40— 

vital importance to the organization, and to their characters as 
officers and members of the V. C. 

First — The postponement of the Convention. — It is claimed 
that these men had nothing to do with it — that it was entirely the 
work of the organization. Here are the facts: 

Those who were delegates to the Philadelphia National Conven- 
tion will remember that the subject was first mooted there at the 
request of the three members of the F. C. in question, in a caucus 
of members of the V. C. It was proposed by a member of D. 11, 
and seconded by a member of D. 1, and passed as a recommenda- 
tion to the D.s, that they favor a change in the Constitution by 
which each district should elect delegates in proportion to member- 
ship to the National Convention. It was recommended in that form 
to the F. C. for promulgation to the D.s. When promulgated it had 
undergone a remarkable change, by which each district was allowed 
two delegates, irrespective of membership. This would give a dis- 
trict having then less than 100 members in good standing the same 
representation as others having 1,500 members. 

The projjosition of the F. C. was passed in some D.s with an 
amendment providing for representation according to membership, 
and a request that the amendment be submitted to all D.s. The re- 
l^ly of the F. C. was that there was no time to do so, and, yet, about a 
year elapsed before the Convention was held. Thus they secured a 
postponement of the Convention under pretense of submitting a 
Constitutional question to the D.s, but so altered the question itself 
as to deprive large districts of representation in proportion to their 
membership, reducing the number of delegates to the Convention, 
thereby making the work of manipulation easier. Thus, you see, the 
proposition originated with the F. C, was supported by them in cau- 
cus, and they voted and worked for its passage, and yet they tell you 
they liad nothing to do with it; *' that it was the work of the organi- 
zation." 

This was the first part of the program by which they sought 
to deceive and hoodwink the organization, escaj)e a proper account- 
ins of their trusts and secure a continuance in office. Let us now 
examine the second part of the program, or farce, played at Boston. 

The Convention. — Notwithstanding the long delay and the evi- 
dence of elaborate preparation for the convention on the ijart of 
tlie F. C, the notice received by the delegates was only given at 
the last moment. Both the first circular after the convention and 
the so-called " report " of its proceedings issued by the Triangle in 
the name of the delegates from each district contained dehberate 
misstatements of facts. There was no Committee on Credentials, 



-41— 

and the word of the Secretary of the F. 0. was the only voucher for 
the genuineness of the delegates. There were three persons present 
who were not delegates, and one of the three presided. The com- 
position of the commifctees appointed by the chairman after dining 
with the men who controlled the F. C, and disbursed its funds, left 
every consideration of decency and bona fide investigation out of 
account. To investigate the work of these men, a Committee on 
Foreign Relations, consisting of two of them, and a man who was 
entirely dependent on them for information, was appointed. The 
Finance Committee consisted of three district members, two of 
whom were the agents of the F. C in the "active policy," and noto- 
riously their partisans. These committees, sitting jointly, and hav- 
ing out of the six members only two who were not previously con- 
cerned in the work of governing and spending the funds, had the 
coolness to report that " The Finance Commitee are fully satisfied 
with the economy and prudence with which the expenditures have 
bedn made, and the Foreign Relations Committee find complete 
exactitude in the financial acknowledgements of the R. D., etc." 
That is, two members of the American part of the R. D., who had 
been receiving and spending in the name of that body vast sums 
of money of which the three home members knew nothing; aided 
by two accommodating district members <vho had been helping them 
to spend the money, find "complete exactitude" in their own ac- 
counts. And then, on the plea that " lives of faithful and de- 
voted men are in the keeping of each of us who have served on 
either of these committees," they appeal to be allowed to keep the 
knowledge to themselves, and assure the organization that they 
" individually and collectively agree that it is a misfortune that so 
many of us should have this knowledge." They describe their 
anxiety to "see in the flesh the officer in charge of the new policy" 
— a stanch confederate of theirs whom they appointed and who 
merely carried out their orders— so that they might, forsooth, de- 
termine whether economy characterized his work and their own. 
But the crowning hypocrisy of all was their desire to ascertain if 
the receips "acknowledged by the Home Branch of the R. D. cor- 
responded with those reported by the F. C. as having been paid 
out." That is, they wanted to see if moneys received and spent by 
the American Branch of the R. D. without the knowledge or con- 
sent,of the Home Branch was properly accounted for by men who 
knew nothing about them, and whose representative was kept away 
from the convention lest the truth should become known. And 
the men guilty of this shameless deceit and hypocrisy are running 
the U. U. to-day. 



—42- 

USE OF FUNDS. 

Third — The Relations with the I. E. B. — Without the presence 
of an envoy from the 1. R. B. the convention was dependent on the 
word of men who admitted the receipt and expenditure of |266,- 

000, and who are positively known to have received a much larger 
sum, for the genuineness of the account. They place $128,000 to 
the credit of the R. D., and $75,000 to that of the S. C. of the I. R. 
B., and they make it impossible for an envoy from Ireland to con- 
firm or contradict the statement by withholding information from 
him as to the time and place of the convention. 

They aver that they sent the information both by cable and 
mail, and yet there are letters at our disposal, dating from June 
to October, from a member of the S. C, complaining that they 
could not get the information they sought, and the last one affirm- 
ing that the old address was still good for cable or mail. No 
letter passing between the two organizations ever miscarried be- 
fore that time, and others have reached the same address sinceo 
The F. C. were made aware of the non-receipt of the information, 
and if it was intended to reach the S. C. it would have been received. 

The true explanation for all this is found in the admission 
in the " report " of the convention of a radical difference of opinion 
between the F. C. and S. C, and a determination to dictate to the 
latter body. There is not a shadow of doubt that three members 
of the F. C. who represented the V. C. on the R. D. usurped the 
functions of the whole body, and spent the money voted to it by 
the F. C. without the knowledge of the home members. By keep- 
ing away the one envoy of the I. R. B,, and auditing their own 
accounts, and speaking in general terms of the R. D. as if they 
spoke for the whole body, they hoped to conceal this fact and 
secure a continuance of the fraud. We now begin to see why it 
became necessary to impose silence by oath on the delegates for 
the first time in the history of the conventions of the V. C. The 
"report" of the convention issued by the Triangle and the tone of 
circulars since issued show a deliberate purpose to prepare the 
minds of the members of the V. C. for a break with our brothers 
at home. Are such men worthy of your confidence? 

Fourth— The R. D.— The R. D. is a fundamental law of the V. 
C, protected and ratified by international treaty with the I. R. 
B. It cannot be altered or abolished without the consent of the 

1. R. B., and the consent of the D's. It was adopted by the Phi- 
ladelphia convention of the V. C. by a unanimous vote in 1876, 
with the proviso that it should become a law only when approved 
by a two-thirds majority of the D's. It was submitted to the D's, 



-43- 

and after being discussed by special meetings in every D, was ap- 
proved by much more than the necessary majority. It was then 
submitted to the S. 0., and having been agreed to by them the B. 
D. was elected, and by a solemn treaty invested with the supreme 
authority in all revolutionary matters. 

The R. D. could not be abolished without the consent of both 
the contracting parties, nor its functions assumed by a minority of 
that body or their confederate " in flesh " without the consent of the 
S. C. or consulting the D.s, who created it, and that most accommo- 
dating body called the Boston Convention, has empowered the Tri- 
angle to elect an R. D. or not, as they see fit. That is, to elect the 
whole body and run a boat of their own, as did the Flannagans at 
the Flood, with the assistance of their confederate " in flesh." 

A TROTEST. 

The R. D. provided the means of adjusting the differences be- 
tween the two organizations, of adopting a common policy, of audit- 
ing all expenditures, and made out of previously disjointed fragments 
one united Irish revolutionary body throughout the world. Every 
intelligent man will noAV perceive that the assumption of power by 
the V. C. members of the R. D. and their officer " in flesh," as well as 
the action taken at Boston, meant broken faith with the I. R., B. 
means secession, disruption, divided councils, is a direct blow at the 
integrity of the national movement. We cannot believe that you will 
continue to condone this offense on the part of the present Triangle 
or indorse this breach of faith with the I. R. B. 

Fifth — The other work of the Convention. — The mode of elect- 
ing the Triangle is inconsistent with honest intentions and gives the 
organization no protection against wrong-doing. The oath of secrecy 
as to the whole proceedings is absolutely without justification or 
valid reason. Its evident intention was to cover up the farce enacted 
by the Committees. 

No reasonable member of the V. 0. wants information involving 
danger to men within the enemy's reach. But every man should 
know who audits accounts covering hundreds of thousands of dollars, 
and insist on having some guarantee that an honest inquiry is made 
into the most important work oi the F. C, viz.; Their relations with 
the men at home. The change in the oath bodes evil to the cause. 
What intelligent man will bind himself to promote all measures 
adopted by the Triangle, "whether known or unknown?" Are you 
to follow these men blindly in every enterprise to which fancy or am- 
bition loads them, including schemes of American politics? 

This, ])rotherR, is the true situation of tlie Irish National move- 
ment in Americu to-day. 



—44— 

The only possible 'remedy is in a general convention which will 
pronounce final judgment and calmly and impartially set aside all 
men who stand in the way of union. We have appealed to the 
triumvirate for such a convention, as have many of you, in vain. 

They will never call it, for the simple reason that they dare not. 
The only possible means of securing it and thereby ending this 
trouble once for all is by your shaking off the lethargy that has 
overtaken you and joining hands with us. Your appeals and pro- 
tests to your leaders will be met by hollow pretenses and subterfuges 
such as have met all such efforts for the last year. 

Waiting for the " regular " convention means submitting to an- 
other farce and allowing the work of disruption to go on with ac- 
celerated speed. Come frankly and openly to our side and the 
settlement of the trouble will be in your own hands. We are em- 
powered to call a convention at any time when we see the necessity 
for it without waiting for the period fixed, and it shall be called as 
soon as you say the word. Then let the culprit suffer, whether it be 
accused or accuser, and the unfaithful, incompetent and factious 
step to the rear. The cause of truth, justice and patriotism will 
triumph, the confidence now broken be restored, the gloom now 
hovering over the organization dispelled, and with brightening hopes 
we will march on to the accomplishment of our object — the resto- 
ration of national independence under a republican form of govern- 
ment to our native land. Fraternally Yours, 

The F. C. of the Y, C. 
X. F. G. (W. E. ¥.), Chairman. 
Y. F. C. (X. E. B.) Sec. 

All communications should be addressed to John C. Phillips 
care of P. O. Box 2,049, New York City. 

CLAN-NA-GAEIj. 

It is generally understood by those not members of the Olan- 
na-Grael that it is a secret organization of Irishmen outside of the 
Land League. Many of its members were not in sympatliy with the 
peaceful methods of Charles Stuart Parnell in i)romoting the cause 
of Irish nationality, but in favor of the employment of *' physical 
force," in combatting the English government. This organization 
became strong in numbers, and raised large sums of money, to 
carry out its plans. A quarter of a million of dollars, it is said, 
was raised in the Camps in this country to employ resolute men to 
commit desperate deeds. Twenty-three dynamitards were sent 
across the ocean to destrby public buildings and public men. Three 
of tlio number, by changing the names given them by the "Tri- 



-45— 

angle," and their appearance and going to lodging houses other 
than assigned them, escaped arrest and punishment. The friends 
of Dr. Cronin say he had evidence to prove that the other twenty 
men were basely betrayed. Before they arrived in Liverpool their 
names, description, and their errand were known to English detect- 
ives in America, who furnished them to the authorities in England, 
and the men stepped ashore only to find themselves in the claws 
of the British lion. The head of the Clan-na-Gael is called the 
"Executive," and at that time the Executive consisted of three 
members — the three whose names have been already given. They 
had absolute control of the work in hand and of the funds also. 
It was not the province nor the business of anybody to ask ques- 
tions. The " Triangle " was omnipotent. The emblem of the order 
is suggestive— the fewest number of sides that can meet and touch 
at all points. Dr. Cronin was inquisitive. He wanted to know who 
it was that betrayed the twenty men who were arrested the instant 
they set foot on English soil. He also was bent on knowing what 
disposition was made of the quarter of a million of dollars. His 
friends were indignant when flippant rumors were set afloat after 
his disappearance to the effect that he was voluntarily hiding; that 
there was a woman in the case; that he was a British spy; or that 
he had left the city. , They said he had indubitable evidence of 
treachery and embezzlement and would have produced it at the 
annual meeting of the Order this year. Was he tried for this upon 
the false charge of being a spy. and his removal ordered ? is the 
question these friends are asking. 

THE CORONER'S INQUEST. 

After several postponements, the result of secret conferences be- 
tween Coroner Hertz and States attorney Longnecker, a jury was 
summoned and the quest to discover the murderers of Dr. Cronin 
began on June 3(1, The States attorney was assisted by W. J. Hyues 
and Luther Lafiin Mills. A large number of witnesses were sum- 
moned. The interests of Coughlin were looked after by lawyer 
Forrest. 

The quest was searching and resulted in recommending the 
arrest of Alexander Sullivan as accessory before the fact. He was 
lodged in .iail on the night of June 11th, making four persons under 
arrest for comy)licity in the crime. From the mass of testimony elicited 
it was shown that Dr. Cronin frequently stated to his nearest friends 
that his life was in danger on account of the enmity of persons at 
one time or another connected with the Irish National movement 
growing out of his efforts to purge Irish organizations of the men 



-46— 

whom he was convinced had misappropriated their funds and em- 
ployed dishonorable methods in the conduct of Irish affairs in this 
country. The evidence elicited before the coroner's jury was con- 
clusive that the murdered physician was confident that a conspiracy 
was on foot to take his life. It was shown that he said he had labored 
for years to substantiate his charges of gigantic crookedness against 
men high in authority at one time in such Irish organizations; that 
they had tried to ruin his reputation. He believed they would not 
scruple at compassing his death. He said he had been tried on 
trumped up charges and expelled by a Clan-na-Gael camp; that his 
character had been assailed in different ways, and that his enemies 
had signally failed to smirch him. The revelations he intended to 
make and substantiate, he claimed, would confuse and destroy the 
men who were jjursuing him, and rather than that he should succeed 
he said they might, and probably would endeavor to "remove" him. 
When witnesses wore asked during tlie inquest if Dr. Cronin namod 
any particular man in this connection the answer was that he had; 
and when the further question was put: '• Who was it?" the answer 
invariably was, "Alexander Sullivan." 

Tlie inquest occupied eight days. Ordinarily the Coroner and 
his jury confine their investigation to the fact of murder and to indi- 
cating the perpetrators of the crime only as necessary testimony to 
prove tlie cause of death, leaving all else to tlie officers charged witii 
the ])rosecution of those accused of the crime. In this case it was 
deemed best to pursue a different policy, and institute as thorougli an 
investigation as possible. Public sentiment recognizes the wisdom of 
that ccmrse. It is claimed tliat enough evidence has been obtained 
to establish the fact that Dr. Cronin was the victim of a conspiracy, 
and that his removal was the result of his persistence in prosecuting 
before the Clan-na-Gael the former officers of tlio 'Triangle " com- 
posed of Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland and I). C. Feeley. Tlie 
testimony fnmi the opening to the close of the quest pointed to his 
enemies in tlie Clan-na-Gael as the head of the conspiracy which led 
to Dr. Cronin's removal. 

A FINANCIAIi PROBLEM. 

When the Traders' Bank here failed, Dr. Cronin learned that 
in 1882 Alexander Sullivan placed the proceeds of a draft for $99,000 
in that institution drawn by the Metropolitan Bank of New York 
in favor of Young, Windes & Co. ; also a draft for |1,000 drawn by 
the same bank in favor of the same firm. Sullivan checked against 
tlieso funds and his checks were honored. The money was believed 
to be the Irish Secret Society funds. Within a few days, one of 
Sullivan's attorneys has admitted that jthis was the cnse. Certain 



—47— 

it is from testimony elicited at the inquest that Sullivan operated 
heavily in stocks in 1882 through the house of J. T. Lester & Co., 
Chicago. 

The Daily Neivs of this city on the 10th of June contained the 
following: "In 1882, when Alexander Sullivan was 'plunging' in 
railroad stocks and bonds at the rate of $30,000 a 'plunge,' Mr. 
Egan was a resident of Paris, France, having sought that gay cap- 
ital as an exile. It was after Alexander Sullivan's visit to Mr. 
Egan at Paris that the former began his operations in stocks and 
bonds through John T. Lester & Co. It is claimed that on his 
visit to Paris Mr. Sullivan received $100,000 or more of Irish funds 
which he carried back to America. This has been denied. Mr. 
Trude however says that after Mr. Sullivan returned from France 
he received from Mr. Egan a trust fund of $100,000 which he de- 
posited in the Trader's Bank and subsequently d.rew out on checks 
made payable to J. T. Lester & Co." 

It appears that Sullivan closed his account with these Brokers 
June 20, 1883, having a balance in his favor of $95,000. What be- 
came of this money was a problem that Dr. Cronin endeavored to 
solve. Sullivan was still speculating in July 1887. After the firm 
of Morris Rosenfleld & Co., was formed he operated through it. 
The day the great Cincinnati Wheat deal broke, it is stated by 
Frank E. Johnson, (formerly with the Traders' Bank but later with 
Morris Eosenfield & Co.) that Sullivan's profits were swept away. 
His dealings at that time, however, were small. The firm failed 
and among its assets was a note of Sullivan's not exceeding $2,000 
with which he settled his account. 

Did Sullivan drop the money he drew from his whilom brokers, 
Lester & Co.? A Chicago daily paper (see Tribune June 13,) con- 
tained the following. " The gap between Alexander Sullivan's specu- 
lations through J. T. Lester & Co. in 1882 and Morris E-osenf eld & Co. 
in 1857 has at last been bridged. The prosecution now has absolute 
evidence that Mr. SullivaA lost and squandered the $95,000 returned 
to him by the former firm. This money he squandered in speculation. 
After his deal in stocks with J T. Lester & Co. Mr. Sullivan selected 
a new broker. The broker was not Mr. Rosenfeld: he was not Mr. 
Frank E. Johnson. The prosecution is not ready to disclose the 
name." 

The friends of Dr. Cronin claim that he ferreted out those things; 
that no accounting for the Irish funds placed in Sullivan's hands 
could be had; that Cronin's cliai^es at the Buffalo Convention of 
the Clan-na-Gael were not disproved; tluit a majority of the commit- 
tee before which the charges came were Sullivan's partisans and sub- 



-48— 

mitted a whitewashing report without a thorough examination of the 
case; that Dr. Cronin was not daunted by the outcome at that time 
but kept on strengthening his position and gathering additional 
facts; tl'iat the estabhshing of the Celto- American newspaper, of 
which he was the editor, aggravated the enmity of his foes; that he 
intended going before the coming convention in July with the case 
against Sullivan fully made up; and that the danger of exposure 
furnishes a reasonable explanation of the motive for his " removal". 

It should be born in mind that the evidence before the Coroner's 
jury is wholly exparte_ and that a warrant for indictment requires 
much stronger proof than is sufficient to detain the accused on the 
warrant of the Coroner Whether the State's attorney was in pos- 
session of sufficient evidence for a special grand jury to hold Sulli- 
van under an indictment will be seen further on. 

IMPORTANT TESTIMONY. 

In all seventy witnesses were called and testified before the 
Coroner's jury, including States Attorney Longnecker and Coroner 
Hertz. Some of the most important testimony has already been 
given in substance. Only the most salient features in the evidence of 
other witnesses is necessary, One of the most imjjortant witnesses 
was Luke Dillon, of Philadelphia. He stated that his business was 
that of a retail shoe dealer. He was asked whether he was a member 
of the United Brotherhood and replied that he was. 

"Have you, as a member of that society, taken an obligation?" 

"Yes, sir." 

" Is there anything in that obligation that would conflict with 
the duty which yon owe to your country, the United States." 

" There is nothing in that obligation which would conflict with 
my duty as a citizen of the United States, except the occasion might 
arise when it would be necessary for myself and other Irishmen who 
had taken this obligation to violate the neutrality laws. Those are 
the only laws which we could violate." 

"Can you state to the jury the objects of your organization?" 

"The object of the organization is to assist a like organization in 
Ireland and England to establish in Ireland an Irish liepublio, and 
ciso to bring about fraternal feelings among Irishmen in this country 
and assist in the elevation of our race." 

•'Did you know Dr. P. H. Cronin?" 

" I knew him very well — intimately. Ho was associated with me 
on the executive of the Order when a division existed. I used to 
communicate with him regularly, })erhaps every week or two. I 
knew him to be intensely patriotic and very useful in the Irish 
movement," 



—49— 

" Have you ever had any conversation with Dr. Cronin touching 
his being in any danger?" 

" Yes sir, we have spoken of it. He has told me that the personal 
ambition of Alexander Sullivan to rule both in Irish and American 
politics in this city would be the cause of his death, for he felt the 
man had no more blood than a fish, and would not hesitate to take his 
life. I thought at the time he had Alexander Sullivan on the brain, 
and that there was not the slightest likelihood of any man hurting 
him." 

'' Has anything happened since that time, Mr. Dillon, to chang^e 
your mind in regard to this matter?" 

"Yes, Sir. At the trial of Sullivan, Boland and Feeley, at which 
I was present, and of which Dr. Cronin was one of the jurors, Alex- 
ander Sullivan protested against Cronin sitting in judgment upon 
him, because of the intense enmity existing between the two men, 
himself and Cronin, and his language to Cronin at that time was very 
abusive, and I felt that the man who would speak so dispargingly 
of another vvas capable of going to further extremes. Another reason 
why I have changed my mind and why I believe that Alexander Sul- 
livan is responsible for this murder, if not the principal, is that Dr. 
Croniu's verdict against him and others was " Guilty." The trial 
to which I am referring took place partly in Buffalo and partly in 
New York, and I had ample time to study the feelings exhibited there, 
and I unhesitatingly say that Sullivan showed great prejudice against 
him, and since then I have received as a member of the evecutive a 
request that Alevander Sullivan be permitted to send out a protest 
along with the trial report and which would be sent to the different 
clubs. As a member of that executive body I objected to the send- 
ing out of a circular by a man who was not a member of the Order, 
as he had resigned some four years previous, but I was evidently 
overruled, for such a document has been sent out, and with the per- 
mission of the Coroner and of the jury here I will read it." 

" When was that trial in Buffalo held?" 

" About a year ago." 

"Who were tried?" 

"Alexander Sullivan, Dennis C. Feeley, of Rochester, and Colonel 
Michael Bolaud, now of Kansas City. There were two sets of charges, 
one by John Devoy, charging them with spending .f 128,(X)0 witlunit 
permission of the home organization, notwithstanding the agreement 
■ with that organization not to spend any money without their sanction. 
My charges were that they had spent $87,000 and had failed to ac- 
count for it during the years, I think, from 1880 to 1887." 

"Did the trial proceed?" 



—50— 

"Yes, sir, notwithstanding the objections of Mr. Sullivan, Dr. 
Cronin acted as a member of that committee in the capacity of a 
juror." 

"You suggested just now, Mr. Dillon, that you would read a 
document. Is that a report of this trial committee?" 

*' It is Alexander Sullivan's protest against Dr. Cronin, which 
was issued to the Order and is now sent throughout all the camps in 
the country, stating that this man Dr. Cronin was likely a British spy, 
and other matters." 

" Was that protest attached on that report of the trial?" 

" It was. This report, against the issuing of which I protested 
on the ground that Alexander Sullivan was not a member of the 
Order, has only been issued to the clubs during the past week," 




ALEXANDER SULLIVAN. 

" Smce the death of Dr. Cronin?" 
"Yes, sir." 

"Is that protest made a part of that report of the trial?" 
"Yes, sir, it is made a i)art of the report." 
The pr(jtest was then read by Mr. Dillon, and is as follows: 
New York, Sept. 15,1888.— /^.yl. O' Boyle, Seer etary.—DKAnSni: 
At the opening of the investigati(m in Buffalo I ijrotested against tlie 
presence of P. H. Cronin as a member of the committee to investigate 



—51— 

any charges against me. The committee decided that it had no power 
to act in the matter, but, through the chairman, said that I could file 
my protest in writing. Therefore 1 formally and in writing renew 
said protest. My grounds are: 

1. He is a personal enemy. 

2. He has expressed opinions in this case. 

3. He is a perjurar and a scoundrel unfit to be placed on any 
jnry. 

To the first objection I cite the men of the U. B. organization in 
Chicago from which he was expelled in a case where I conducted the 
prosecution. There is no question in Chicago of his personal hostil- 
ity. Before the National League Convention of 1886 his was one of 
the signatures to a circular assailing me, and he was a regular fittend- 
ant at meetings hostile to me. This is so notorious to men from all 
parts of the country that it is not necessary to enlarge upon it. But 
if substantiation is required it can be furnished to an overwhelming 
degree. 

In support of the second objection it is only necessary to recite 
the now notorious fact that Cronin was a member of the executive 
body of the U. B. Hence he was one of those who circulated charges 
against my former associates and myself. He, therefore, not only ex- 
pressed his opinions, but in his official capacity caused these opinions 
to be published and circulated. Your committee is chosen from two 
bodies, whose members differed on many subjects, but who all agreed, 
or, at least, professed to agree, in denouncing unfair trials, packed 
juries, and prejudiced jurors in Ireland. Yet I am asked, after a pe- 
riod of four years has elapsed since I was a member of the organiza- 
tion, to come to trial before a committee chosen in my'absence, at a 
place where I was given no opportunity to be heard, although I was 
within a few hundred feet of that jjlace; and while you ask the world 
to believe that you want fair trials on one side of the Atlantic, you 
ask me to accept as a juror a creature who would be excluded in any 
civil court from a jury in a trial of a case in whicli I had an interest, 
however trivial. 

TWO ALTERNATIVES. 

I am told that it has been declared that if I did not appear before 
this committee I would be denounced as one unable to . defend him- 
self against an accusation filed* bo I was left the alternative of being 
tried before a jury with at least one prejudiced member, or of being 
abused or villified for my non-appearance. And this, it aj^pears, is 
what the men who selected Cronin wore led to believe was fairness. 
They should never again be bo indecently inconsistent as to criticise 



—52— 

the composition of juries or courts chosen to try men in England 
or Ireland. Had he had as much decency as an ordinary dog he 
would not sit in a case in which I was interested. ^ 

As to the third objection to Cronin, I charge that the brand of 
perjury is so burnt into the scoundrel's brow, that all the waters of 
the earth would not remove the brand. He was a delegate to the 
District Convention held in Chicago March 23 1884, that being the 
first one held in this District after the Constitution was so amended 
as to provide for the election of two delegates from each district. 
Two delegates were elected at the same session; one being chosen 
immediately after the other; yet Cronin, after officially reporting to 
his D. (camp) that two delegates were elected, circulated a report 
that only one was elected, and added that he would not be per- 
mitted to speak nor present any suggestions from his D. Every 
other delegate at the convention has been sworn, and every one, 
including those who were with Cronin in the U. D. organization, 
testified that two delegates were chosen; that Cronin was present 
when they were chosen; that every delegate not only could speak 
as he pleased, but was actually called upon to speak; and that ev- 
ery delegate, including Cronin, did speak. 

Cronin was expelled a convicted liar, who added perjury to 
his slander. 

A CANADIAN MILITIAMAN. 

I have further investigated his record, and find that in civil 
matters outside of this organization he is also a perjurer. The rec- 
ord obtained from Ireland by William J. Fitzgerald, a solicitor at 
Mallow, recommended to me by Mr. Healy, shows that Cronin was 
baptised at Buttevant, Apiil 20, 1844:. Cronin has sworn that he 
lived at St. Catherines, Canada, until after the assassination of 
President Lincoln, April 14, 18G.5. Capt. McDonald, of No. 2 Comp- 
any, Nineteenth Batallion of the Canadian Militia, of which this 
P. H. Cronin was a member, says that at its formation in 18G2 or 
18G3 he had P. H. Cronin in his company, or shortly after its 
formation. He was known as the "Singer Cronin." At the time 
of joining he took the oath of allegiance as follows: "I swear I 
will bear true and faithful allegiance to Her Majesty, her heirs, 
and successors." About 1863 positive orders were sent from the 
Government that every man had to take the oath of allegiance, 
and that there was none under his command who did not take it. 
The official records show that Cronin's father, John V. Cronin, 
was a British subject, and voted in Canada up to the time of his 
death, eo that P. H. Cronin until 1805 or 18G6, when he left Can- 
ada, was a British eudject, and if, as he claimo, hio father was nat- 



-53— 

uralized in the United States before going to Canada, he volun- 
tarily abandoned his American citizenship, and resumed his jjosi- 
tion as a British subject, just as P. H. Cronin voluntarily swore 
allegiance to the British majesty, and became one of her loyal 
British militiamen. 

Yet this creature swore in his name as a legal voter in St. 
Louis, Mo., and voted in that city, as he confessed under oath. 
After coming to Chicago and residing here one year, he sneaked 
down to Macoupin county, IlL, doubtless being afraid of attracting 
attention in Chicago, and swore that he "arrived in the United 
States a minor, under the age of 21 years, that he resided in the 
United States three years preceding his arrival at the age of 21 
years." He professed to have believed that he was born in 1856, and 
not in 1844. But even if that was true, he was over 19 years old 
when he left Canada, because he has sworn that he was yet in 
Canada when President Lincoln was assassinated, and that he 
came to the United States in 1865 or 1866; yet he swore he resided 
in the United States three years preceding his arrival, at the age of 
21 years, and thus secured his papers on this minor petition 
falsely sworn to. 

This much of P. H. Cronin's character, I submit, should be 
considered in connection with any reporb his malice and prejudice 
may dictate. 

I have not made any formal protest against the continuance of 
Dr. McCahey's presence on the committoe, but it is well known 
that he has been active in publishing documents and interviews 
hostile to me, and it is at least strange that one who has been so 
engaged should be willing to serve on such a committee. 

Respectfully, Ajlexander Sullivan. 

The witness continued: 

" That has only been issued within two weeks and might have 
been in the press longer " 

" Has that protest, Mr. Dillon, been in the hands of your Order 
or some officer of your Order before Cronin's murder?" 

"Yes, sir, for about four months I should judge." 

"The protest is dated when?" 

"Sept. 15, 1888." 

"How do you know that this protest is the protest of Alex- 
ander Sullivan?" 

"Because I have received official notification from the Secre- 
tary that Mr. Alexander Sullivan desired to send such a protest 
out. I objected to its being sent out, because he is not a memfcer 



-54- 



of the organization, and I knew that the protest would attack the 
character of a decent man." 

"What right had you to object to its being sent out?" 

" I had every right, as a member of the executive." 

"Are you at present a member of the executive?" 

"I am." 

"How many members are there?" 

" Nine." 

The witness told of how the widow of one of the men who 
had perished " in active service across the water " had been on the 
verge of starvation until he (Dillon) raised $1,000 for her relief. 
The Triangle which had spent in two years $128,000, for which there 
was not a voucher, refused to give this woman any aid. 

And then came the story about the $97,500 given to Dr. Gal- 
lagher, now in prison in England. The Triangle caused the impres- 




Dillon, Beggs, Moss, McGary, 

Capt. O'Donnell, Brown, Chief Hubbard, Mrs. Conklin. 

IMPOKTANT WITNESSES BEFORE THE COKONER'S JURY. 

sion to spread in the Order that Gallngher got that amount, but 
as a matter of fact the Triangle did not pay Dr. Gallagher one 
cent. " I know that," said Dillon with emphasis. 

The Triangle must, therefore, have misappropriated the whole 
sum of $128,000. 

And here again the Coroner put in his oar. He asked Dillon 
whether he believed that men had been sent to England on a 
dangerous mission and betrayed. Dillon believed this to be the case. 

"Who could have betrayed them?" 

"Only meml)ers of the executive or some one in their confi- 
dence,"' replied Dillon. 



—55— 

"And who were the members of the executive at tlie time of 
betrayal?" 

Then followed the usual trinity of names — Sullivan, Boland 
and Feeley. 

The Coroner put some other questions which elicited some- 
what unexpected replies. Did Mr. Dillon hear whether the Triangle 
received $100,000 from Patrick Egan about June 1, 1882? Mr. 
Dillon replied in the negative. 

"At that time," said Mr. Dillon, "the executive had more than 
$100,000, or ought to have had more than $100,000 of the funds of 
the organization." Then there was some more questionmg about 
the amount of money the Triangle controlled. " It was about $350,- 
000," said Mr. Dillon. 

Then followed some questions about Sullivan's resignation in 
1885. The witness said it was a mere pretense. Dillon saw Sulli- 
van's hand writing in the official documents of the Order after the 
date of his resignation — for a year after. 

He was asked: " Have you any other information, Mr. Dillon, 
which would be proper for you to give this lury, sitting to inquire 
into the death of Dr. Cronin, which would assist them in arriving 
at the cause of his death?" 

"Well, I believe his death is the result of the abuse heaped 
upon him by the friends of Alexander Sullivan. He has been de- 
nommated a spy and a traitor, perjurer and, in fact, all the invec- 
tives have been piled upon him that could be heaped upon the 
head of any man by the friends of Sullivan, all because of Cronin s 
enmity to Sullivan." 

Mr. Dillon said it was utterly impossible that an order should 
be issued by the executive for the "removal" of a member. It 
had no power to violate any law of this country. He did not be- 
lieve that a majority of the committee could come together and 
issue such an order without his knowledge; neitlier could any of 
the subordinate camps issue such an order. If they did it would 
be in violation of their oath and of the constitution of the Order. 

Being asked to give some details about this alleged misappro- 
priation of funds which Dr. Cronin and himself talked about, he 
gave this explanation: 

" John Devoy charged that there was $300,000 and more in the 
hands of the Triangle, and that $128,000 was spent in violation of 
the constitution; that there were no vouchers furnished for it; and 
that all the papers were burnt at the convention, either in Boston 
or Chicago. This money was supposed to have been spenu in 
using violent measures against England, or carrying on what tbey 



—56— 

termed 'nn active policy.' Previous to the resignation of Alexan- 
der Sullivan all documents bearing on expenditures for this pur- 
pose were ordered burnt by the convention, which was run by 
Sullivan and his friends. John Devoy was present at this conven- 
tion and gave his testimony before tlie trial committee. The 
amount mentioned by John Devoy as having been misappropriated 
did not include $100,000, which was said to have been obtained 
from Patrick Egan. As to this sum Mr. Dillon could not give any 
information. The funds of the Order were supposed to be used in 
case of England getting involved in difficulty in assisting Ireland 
to liberate herself. It was also supposed that if a man lost his 
life in the service of the organization his family would be assisted. 
There was nothing in the constitution that required men to sacri- 
fice their lives or directing the use of the funds to support their 
families, but it was believed that common decency and Christianity 
would compel the executive body to do so." 

FORGETFUL. WITNESSES. 

Daniel Brown is a policeman. He is the person who preferred 
the cliarges on wliicli Dr. Cronin was expelled from the Clan-na-Gael 
in 1884 or 1835. He had forgotten (or said he had) the nature of the 
(charges. He couldn't tell the substance of the circular on whicli the 
charges were based nor who j)rosecuted them. He was oblivious to 
almost everything he ought to know about the charges; but he said 
lie i)referred the charges because he thought Dr. Cronin was a 
traitor to the Order. It soon became apparent that Brown was a 
weakling who liad l)ecome the tool of abler and moi-e influential 
men. 

At tlie time the charges were preferred against Dr. Cronin, 
Brown was a member of Camp No. 10, now Camp No. 41, he said. 
He was at a meeting of Dr. Cronin's camp one evening and heard a 
discussion about a circular from a camp that had been expelled, 
wliich v/as read by Dr. Cronin. This being a violation of the rules 
of the Order, Brown preferred a charge of treason in iiis own camp, 
and a trial committee was appointed. 

It is said he was instigated to prefer the cliarges against Dr. 
Cronin by Timothy Crean, and that the latter was Alexander Sulli- 
van's agent. It came out subsequently that Alexander Sullivan was 
the prosecutor in the case, by Sullivan's protest; that Brown was rec- 
ommended to the police force by jjartisans of Sullivan, and is a 
friend of Dan Coughlin. 

Lawrence R. Buckley was called. He testified tliat lie was the 
Chairman of the committee which tried Dr. Cronin for treason. 
Cougiiliu, O'Malley and Murphy (father of Miss Anna Muri)hy who 



—57— 

was so positive she saw Cronin the Saturday night he disappeared) 
were also members, He said LeOaron was not. Yet the latter's 
name was signed to the findings. Buckley recollected that Cronin 
was expelled; but his memory on some points was very bad. Coroner 
Hertz asked him: 

" What did Dr. Cronin say in his own defense at this trial? You 
said that he was there.?" 

" He made a speech after all the testimony was in." 

"What did he say?" 

" I don't remember the language, but it was something like this: 
*The Doctor thought that he was right. If the committee could 
find anything in the constitution of the Order that made him out 
guilty the committee should do their duty.' " 

John F. O'Malley was one of the committee that tried Dr. Cronin. 
His recollections of the trial were very dim. He stated that he did 
not recollect who the members of the committee were, though he 
admitted that Lawrence E, Buckley and Dan Coughlin were mem- 
bers. About Murphy and LeCaron he was not sure. Could not say 
sure about seeing Officer Brown who preferred the charges. Brown 
might have been present, and so might other visiting strangers. The 
witness was singularly non-commital. He could not tell whether 
Dan Coughlin made any remarks or not, nor how he voted, nor how 
he (himself)had voted. He did remember that the charge against Dr. 
Cronin was treason, and that he was expelled. 

THE CHARGES OF DR. CRONIN. 

The concluding evidence presented to the Coroner's jury were 
the papers left by Dr. Cronin relating to mattei-s connected with 
the conduct of the affairs by the R. D. (Revolutionary Directorate), 
when the executive, (or the Triangle), consisted of Alexander Sul- 
livan, Michael Boland and D. C. Feeley. The papers comprised 
telegrams, that passed between parties in New York and Dr. Cronin, 
charges which were to be i)referred against the Triangle, and the 
testimony upon which they were based. As having a bearing on 
the case before the jury, and in seeking for a motive for the "re- 
moval" of Dr. Cronm, the Coroner i-ead these documents. The 
charges are as follows: 

Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 15, 1889.-^0 the F. C. of the U. S.~ 
Dear Sirs and Brothers: The Trial Committee appointed at 
Chicago was unable to elicit all the facts connected with the 
charges placed before it because of the refusal of several of the 
witnessess to answer many of the questions asked, and because of 
the inability of others to remember events and figures that might 



—58— 

be supposed to be indelibly impressed on their memories. From 
the evidence presented I am obliged to report: 

THE CHAEGES. 

1. That the family of one who lost his life in the service of 
the Order was scandalously and shamefully neglected and contin- 
ued to be neglected for two years after their destitute condition 
was known, and that Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland, and 
D. C. Feeley are responsible and censurable for that neglect. 

2. That Gen. O. H. McCarthy of St. Paul, Minn., was unjustly 
and deliberately excluded from the Boston convention and subse- 
quently shamefully prosecuted and driven from the Order, and that 
Alexander Sullivan, Michael Boland and D. C. Feeley are respons- 
ible and censureable for that series of reprehensible acts. 

3. That a delegate from home organization was excluded from 
the Boston convention, and that the same three defendants are 
responsible and censurable for that exclusion. 

4. That the same defendants issued a deceptive report to the 
Boston convention leading the Order to believe that its affairs had 
been examined by independent committees and that the Order 
was $13,000 in debt, that in fact Alexander Sullivan and Michael 
Boland were on the committee of foreign affairs, and the Treas- 
urer states that there was a balance in the treasury and not a debt. 

5. That prior to the Boston convention one hundred and 
eleven tliousand (SUl.OOO) dollars was expended without any direct 
or indirect benefit to the Order, and most of it in a manner that 
could not in any way have benefited the Order, and that the three 
same defendants are censurable and responsible for this enormous 
and wasteful expenditure. 

G. That this enormous sum was spent without the sanction or 
knowledge of the home portion of the B. D. 

7. That various persons sent abroad were not supplied with 
sufficient funds, and that the agent of the Triangle is responsible 
and censurable for that criminal neglect, and not the three de- 
fendants. 

8. That Michael Boland and the late Secretary of the I. N. B. 
issued fraudlent transfers for the purpose ol deceiving the Order 
in Philadelphia into believing that the union with the home Order 
had not been broken. 

9. That Michael Boland and D. C. Feeley, the former by acts 
and the latter by assent, are guilty of attempting to pack the Pitts- 
burgh convention by, first, excluding the delegate from the Pacific 
elojje; second, excluding Mr. McLaughlin, delegate from Dakota; 



—59— 

third, excluding O'SuUivan and Delaney, rightful delegates from 
New York; fourth, admitting the Rev. Dr. Betts and John J. Ma- 
roney on bogus credentials from the bogus districts; fifth, admitting 
Boland and Malone, illegal delegates from New York; sixth, ad- 
mitting proxies from Iowa, Brooklyn and Illinois; seventh sitting 
as delegates themselves in direct violation of the constitution. 

10. That the $80,4:91 reported to the District Convention as hav- 
in been spent in active work, was not spent for any such work, no 
such work having been done or contemplated during the eleven 
months within which the large amount was drawn from the Treas- 
ury. The active work done between the Boston and other District 
Conventions was paid for out of the surplus held by the agent of the 
Triangle at the time of the Boston Convention, and not out of the 
$87,491 drawn from the Treasury months after such active work had 
ceased. 

11. That Michael Boland and D. 0. Feeley. the former by acts 
and the latter by silence, are responsible for the expenditure of this 
large amount of money, and censurable for deceiving the District 
Convention as to the purpose for which it was spent. 

12. That Michael Boland, Alexander Sullivan, and D. C. Feeley, 
the former by acts and the latter two by assent, illegally suspended 
D.s in January, 1885, and that Michael Boland and D. C. Feeley, the 
former by acts and the latter by by assent, illegally suspended U. D.s 
in New York in January, 1886. Yours respectfully, 

P. McCahey. 
I concur in the within and foregoing report, and would recom- 
mend, in strict fairness to all concerned, and in justice to the entire 
organization, that the evidence from which were deducted the fore- 
going, be printed by F. C. and sent to each D. O., and by him read at 
the general meeting or District over which he presides. 
Signed Jan. 19, 1889. P. H. Cronin. 

THE VERDICT. 

The verdict of the Coroner's jury is in the following form: 

We, the undersigned, a jury appointed to make inquiry accord- 
ing to law as to how the body viewed by us came to his death, state 
from the evidence: 

Fiist — That the body is that of Patrick H. Cronin, known as 
Dr. Cronin. 

Second — That his death was not from natural causes but from 
violent results. 

Third — That the said P. H. Cronin was decoyed from his home 
on North Clark street the evening of May 4, 1889, by some person 



—60— 

or persons to the Carls'on cottage, situated at No. 1872 North Ash> 
land avenue, in Lake View, Cook County, 111. 

Fourth — That at said cottage the said Cronin was murdered 
by being beaten on his head with some blunt instrument in tho 
hands of some person or persons to us unknown the night of the 
said May 4, or between May 4 and May 5, 1889. 

Fifth — That the body after the said murder was committed 
was placed in a trunk and carried to Edgewater on a wagon by 
several persons and by them j^laced in a catch-basin at the corner 




Hertz Coroner. 
Sutter, Killian, Van Housen, 

Hanghu]!, Biefert, Critcliell. 

THE coroner's JURY. 

of Evanston avenue and Fifty-ninth street. Lake View, where it 
was discovered May 22, 1889. 

Sixth — That the evidence sliows conclusively to our minds that 
a plot or conspiracy was formed by a number of ijersor)S for the 
purpose of murdering said Cronin and concoaUng his body. Said 
plot or conspiracy was deliberately contrived and (M-uelly executed. 

Seventh -We have had careful inquiry into the relations sus- 
tained by said Cronin to other persons while alive to ascertain if 
he had any enemy or enemies sufficient to cause his murder. 

Eighth It is OUT- judgment that no other person or persons 
except some of th .e who are or have been members of a certain 



—61— 

secret society known as the United Brotherhood or " Clan-na-Gael " 
had any cause to be the instigators or executors of such plot and 
conspiracy to murder the said Cronin. 

Ninth — Many of the witnesses testifying in the case have done 
BO with much evident unwilHngness and as we beheve with much 
mental reservation. 

We find from the evidence that a number of persons were con- 
nected with this plot and conspiring to murder the said Cronin, 
and that 

Daniel CouGHiiiN, 

Patrick O'Sullivan, 

Alexander Sullivan, and 

Frank Woodruff, alias Black, 
were either the principals, accessories, or have guilty knowledge of 
said plot and conspiracy to murder said Cronin and conceal his 
body, and should be held to answer to the grand jury. 

We also believe that otlier persons were engaged in the plot> 
or have guilty knowledge of it, and should be apprehended and 
held to the grand jury. 

We would further state that this plot or conspiracy in its con- 
ception and execution is one of the most vile and brutal that has 
ever come to our knowledge, and we would recommend that the 
proper authorities offer a large reward for the discovery and con- 
viction of all of those engaged in it in any way. 

We further state that in our judgment all secret societies whose 
objects are such as the evidence shows those of the Clan-na-Gael 
or United Brotherhood to be, are not in harmony with and are 
injurious to American institutions. 

We hope that future vigor and vigilance by the police force, 
will more than compensate for past neglect by a portion of the 
force in this case. 

R. S. Critchell, H. a. Haugan, 

John A. Van Housen, Justus Killian, 
EuDOLPH Sbifert, Victor U. Suttee. 

Indictments had already been found by the grand jury against 
Daniel Coughlin, Patrick O'Sullivan and Frank Woodruff, alias 
Black, for complicity in Dr. Cronin's murder. When the verdict of 
the Coroner's jury was rendered, Alexander Sullivan was arrested 
and lodged in jail charged with being an accessory before the fact. 

Sullivan's Counsel sued out a writ of habeas corpus before Judge 
Tuley for their client's release. The judge examined the testimony 
taken before the Coroner's jury and decided to release the i)risoner 
on bail, which, by agreement between Counsel was fixed at $20,000. 



This was furnished by Michael W. Kerwin. James W. Touhy, Daniel 
Corkery and Fernando Jones, and Sullivan was released. 

A SPECIAL GRAND JURY. 

The verdict of the Coroner's jury was promptly followed by 
further legal steps to discover all the facts pertaining to the mur- 
der of Dr. Cronin. At the request of State's Attorney Lougenecker, 
Judge Shepard directed Sheriff Matson to summon a special grand 
jury. On June 21, twenty- three good men answered to their names 
in Judge Shepard's Court, and were at once impaneled to specially 
inquire into the case. This jury was selected with great care, the 
object being to obtain men unprejudiced, fair-minded and clear- 
headed. The jury was composed of the following: 

J. H. CLOUGH, of J. H. Clough & Sons, provision merchants, 
No. 2420 Michigan avenue. 

D. B. DEWEY, President of the .'^fcnerican Exchange National 
Bank. 

H. P. KELLOGG, of Kellogg, Johnson & Bhss, hardware, No. 
3329 Michigan avenue. 

W. B. FORSYTHE of Forsythe .t Smith, druggists. No. 124 
Twenty-hrst street. 

J. McGregor ADAMS, President of the Adams & Westlake 
Company, No. 300 La Salle avenue. 

JACOB GROSS of Felseuthal, Gross & Miller, bankers, No. 
387 Warren avenue. 

FRANCIS B. PEABODY of Peabody, Houghtelling & Co., 
bankers and financial agents, No. 42G Dearborn avenue. 

W. H. BEEBE of W. H. Beebe & Co., commission merchants, 
No. 33 Aldine Square. 

J. F. WOLLENSAK, hardware. No. 381 La Salle avenue. 

ISAAC JACKSON, stenographer, No. 324 Orchard street. 

H. S. PECK, President of the Chicago Jewelers' Association, 
No. 940 Monroe street. 

W. J. QUAN, wholesale grocer. No. 384 Erie street 

HENRY GREENEBAUM, insurance agent. No. 549 Washing- 
ton boulevard. 

C. GIIiBERT WHEELER. President of the Wheeler Chemical 
Works, Clifton House. 

C. J. RHODE, painter. No. 339 North Clark street. 

GEORGE W. WAITE, civil engineer, No. 1109 Bowen avenue. 

HENRY A. KNOTT, Knott Sc Lewis, real estate, Buena Park. 

WM. D. KEREOOT, real estate, No. 348 Dearborn avenue. 



—63— 

D. A PIERCE, real estate, Hyde Park. 

A G. LUNDBERG, Lake View. 

LOUIS HASBROUCK, Hopkins & Hasbrouck, insurance, No. 
3228 Groveland Park avenue. 

JOHN O'NEILL^ ex-County Commissioner. 

A. P. JOHNSON, President of the Johnson Chair Company, 
No. 605 North Robey street. 

After reading the section of the statue defining the duties of 
grand juries, Judge Shejjard charged the jury in direct and vigor- 
ous language. In closing his remarks he said; 

" But the prime matter which will come before you, I presume, 
will be the murder of the late Dr. Cronin. This appaling murder 
demands a most vigorous investigation. Dr. Cronin, an American 
citizen, has been struck down and killed under circumstances so 
horribly indicative of conspiracy, premeditated design, and malice 
as to warrant the most searching inquiry. Fortunately the power 
of a grand jury is fully equal to the emergency. 

"Men who can tell of facts and circumstances that will lead 
you to the discovery of the guilty parties can be made to tell. It 
is j*ast as much perjury to falsely deny knowledge of a fact as to 
affirm its existence. Nothing short of a refusal to testify before 
you on the ground that his testimony will tend to criminate him- 
self will excuse any witness, and he cannot falsely employ that 
personal privilege as a protection for another without subjecting 
himself to the pains and penalties of perjury. 

"It is not the policy of the law that it is better that one or 
any number of guilty men should escape rather than that an in- 
nocent person should suffer. The law has no policy in such matters 
except that every guilty man shall be punished. With all the in- 
formation already in possession of the law officers of the county 
at hand, it will be a blot on this Commonwealth, a severe blow to 
the administration of justice, and a frightful menace to the safety 
of the individual citizen if every man engaged in this shocking 
crime, or having guilty knowledge of it, shall not be discovered. 

" The whole power of the county is at your disposal. Employ 
your resources, use the power invested in you without fear or 
favor, and the result cannot be uncertain. 

"You will now retire to the jury room and make your own 
arrangements for the transaction of the business for which you 
have been called together." 

The grand jury exammed more than two hundred witnesses, of 
whom a number had testified before the Coroner's jury. At the 
same time Chief-of-Police Hubbard and his assistants kept up a 



—64— 

vigorous pursuit of all clues which promised to yield information 
relating to the murder of Dr. Cronin. The members of Camp Xo. 
20 of the Clan-na-Gael, so far as they were known, were constantly 
under surveilance. State's Attorney Longenecker is reported as 
saying, according to the Chicago Tribune of June 25: "^YehaYe 
established to our own satisfaction that there was an inner Circle 
in the notorious Camp Xo. 20, and we are satisfied from evidence 
in our possession that a trial of Dr. Cronin was ordered in this 
inner Circle some time in February or March." Further than that 
he would not talk. Investigations in various directions, however, 
served to unravel several tangled skeins, in the case, and materially 
strengthen the chain of evidence. The Inter Ocean of June 25 
said: "It is now known by the State that Dr. Cronin was tried 
Friday, Feb. 15, by the inner Circle of Camp No. 20. 

THE CONSPIKACY UNMASKED. 

•'For a year or more," (said the Chicago Tribune of June 25\ 
" Dr. Cronin had been denounced in Camp Xo. 20 as a British spy. 
Dan Coughlin, P. O 'Sullivan, Cooney, Burke, and fellows of that 
kind put the rumor in circulation. Harry Jordan, John Moss, 
Larry Buckley, and their following spread the story, if not by as- 
sertion at lenst by inuendo and quite as effectively. When Le 
Caron testified he mentioned that there were in America three 
other spies like himself. He mentioned only one, who was known 
to him by the name of Harrison, but who went by an Irish name 
in Leadville and other Colorado cities. This man has since dis- 
appeared. The names of the other two were suppressed. Le 
Caron's story had hardly been told when it was hinted that Dr. 
Cronin was one of the spies. It was falsely asserted that he was 
on intimate terms with Le Caron. It was falsely asserted that 
Le Caron testified that Cronin was an eminent man in his profes- 
sion. This false assertion was printed and commented on as show- 
ing that Le Caron felt kindly to Cronin. It was proof positive to 
the dupes of the inner circle that Cronin was surely a British spy. 
Le Caron testified during the first week of February. * * * 
Charges were preferred against Dr. Cronin for giving secrets to the 
enemy, for seeking to obtain information prejudicial to the cause 
in order to se]l it to England, and for general betrayal of the 
secrets of the Order. *** ****** 
Cronin was convicted. His punishment was decreed to be death. 
His "executioners,"' as the assassins were called, were selected by 
lot. Dan Coughlm drew the lot. He selected his own men. They 



-65— . 

were all members of Camp No. 20. The preparations for the "exe- 
cution" were entered on at once. 

According to the Chicago daily papers of June 25, the names 
of the parties selected to carry out the finding of the trial com- 
mittee are known to the State's Attorney. Following up the nar- 
rative of this diabolical crime the Inter Ocean of the above date 
says: 

"The- little band of murderers were not long in getting at 
work. Feb. 20 J. B. Simons rented the entire flat at No. 117 South 
Clark street, and the next day the scanty furniture for one room 
was moved in from Revell's. It was intended to kill the Doctor 
here, but for some reason, probably because the building was 
never entirely deserted at night, that plan was abandoned. Fur- 
ther reason, probably, was that it would have been difficult to get 
the trunk containing the body down the narrow stairs and out of 
the building. For it is clear that the body was to be made away 
with. The presence of the trunk, with the extra strong strap, not 
alone shows that, but also the pre-arranged scheme of having the 
dead man seen at various points on his way to Europe, which 
scheme was only abandoned when the body was discovered. But 
though the murder on Clark street was abandoned, the plotters 
were busy at work on other plans. Thursday, March 7, Dr. Cronin 
was summoned presumably to attend a sick person away out on 
Austin avenue. The band of "removers," four in number, lay in 
ambush, but their victim did not come. One week later, Thursday, 
March 14, he was summoned to another point, the murderous gang 
being concealed in the vacant lot to which he had been lured. It 
was their idea the Doctor would come on a street car, and go hunt- 
ing around the deserted thoroughfare for the fictitious number 
sent him. But instead the Doctor drove up in a buggy with an- 
other man with him, and seeing at a glance there was no such 
number he drove away again." 

"By the way, there was a price for the murder. Each of the 
four men got 350 apiece before they started on these two missions, 
and when the bloody deed was done they were each to receive 
another sum to make the amount $500 each. In addition to this, the 
" removers " were encouraged to their work by the promise that in 
the event of arrest, which was remote, they would be provided with 
counsel and also with witnesses who would prove up alibis for 
them. The rendezvous for the gang was a saloon both times, one of 
the places being on Division street. The disburser of the money on 
each occasion was the same person, now one of the prisoners. Dr. 
Cronin knew that his life was in unnger and was ordinarily wary. 



—66— 

The attempts thus far did not show much ingenuity on the part of 
the projectors and they had failed. He was not to be killed in the 
flat at No. 117 Clark street, and the attempts made March 7 and 14 
had miscarried. Just one w^eek later commeneed the move that 
resulted in the Doctor's assassination. March 20 Williams rented 
the Carlson cottage at No. 1872 North Ashland avenue, and March 
22 the furniture was secretly moved there from No. 117 Clark street. 
The transparent decoy schemes having failed some brains seems to 
have been brought into the case, and a plan evolved cunning in con- 
ception and devilish in malignity. Mark well the course of events. 
The down-town plan of campaign is abandoned, and the Lake View 
cottage taken possession of March 22. April 26, P. O 'Sullivan, the 
ice-peddler, makes that peculiar contract with Dr. Cronin. Eight 
days after this, on May 4, this man Sullivan, who has never before 
had an accident at his ice house, is reported to have had one, and on 
that very message Ds. Cronin is lured to his death." 

When Dr. Cronin's body was found, and it became evident that 
he was the victim of an atrocious conspiracy, the whereabouts of a 
number of persons was diligently sought. It was not long, as has 
been previously narrated, before Detective Dan Coughlin and P. 
O'Sullivan were taken into custody. Two other men who were much 
wanted were 

MARTIN BURKE AND PATRICK COONEY. 

They had been seen together a great deal just previous to the 
assassination of Dr. Cronin, and frequently in company with Dan 
CoughUn. Both were members of Camp 20 of the Clan-na-Gael. 
Burke left the citv soon after the murder of Cronin, and a few days 
later Cooney also disappeared. Detective Collins of the police force 
knew Burke. It was ascertained that he went from Chicago to Joliet, 
where he remained only a few days. AVTien he arrived he was nearly 
out of money, as has since been learned, but soon received a remit- 
tance and disappeared. A photograph of him was obtained, which 
was at once recognized by the Carlsons as the man who had rented 
their cottage. Michael Gavin, who had worked with Burke during 
several months, testified before the Grand Jury that he had heard 
him repeatedly denounce Dr, Cronin as a British spy, who ought to 
be " removed." Burke was out of employment for nearly four 
months previous to the murder, yet he spent money freely among 
the saloons in the vicinity of Chicago avenue and Market street. 
The Grand Jury, upon evidence sufficient to connect him with the 
Cronin murder, found an indictment against Burke. A man 
answering his description was arrested at Winnipeg, Manitoba. 
Detective Collins and Martinson, the expressman who hauled the 



-67— 

furniture from 117 Clark street to the Carlson cottage, proceeded to 
Winnipeg, both of whom at once recognized Burke as the man 
wanted in Chicago. The necessary papers for his extradition were 
immediately procured from the Governor of Illinois and the State 
Department at Washington, and an attorney sent to Winnipeg. 
Extradition proceedings are now being prosecuted for Burke's cus- 
tody and return to Chicago. 

Patrick Cooney only remained in Chicago long enough after the 
finding of Dr. Cronin's body to dispose of stock he owned in the 
Queen City Loan and Building Association. The authorities are 
diligently trying to capture him. 

INDICTMENTS FOUND. 

In the meantime the Grand Jury pursued its labors with untir- 
ing industry. Over two hundred witnesses were examined and a 
mass of testimony taken. The full limit of time for which it was 
impaneled was occupied, and late on the afternoon of June 29, 
Foreman Clough, heading the jury, entered Judge Shepard's court 
room and returned indictments against the following persons: 

JOHN P. BEGGS, Lawyer; Senior Guardian of Camp No. 20. 

DAN COUGHLIN, ex-Detective. 

PATRICK O'SULLIVAN, Iceman. 

MARTIN BURKE, Laborer. 

F. J. WOODRUFF, aHas Black, the Horsethief. 

PATRICK COONEY, alias "the Fox," Bricklayer. 

JOHN KUNZE, Laborer. 

Alexander Sullivan's case was passed to the next grand jury. 
When that body meets the prosecution expects to have sufficient 
evidence to directly connect him and others with the crime. Of the 
seven members indicted three were already in jail under previous 
indictments — Coughlin, O'Sullivan and Woodruff. John F. Beggs 
had been detained by the authorities several days previous to the 
formal presentment of the indictments, probably because the States' 
Attorney knew of the action in his case. John Kunze's complicity 
with the case was only discovered after this special grand jury 
began its investigations. He was identified from his photograph 
by William Mertes, a milkman, as the man he saw drive up to the 
Carlson cottage on the night of Dr. Cronin's murder with another 
man, between 8 and 9 o'clock. His companion entered the cottage 
and another man got into the buggy, and then drove away. His 
identification as one of the men who occupied No.117 Clark street was 
made complete by a stenographer and lawyer's clerk named James, 
who is employed in an office in the Opera House Building imme- 
diately opposite No. 117 Clark street. Kunze, it was learned, was 



—68— 

a companion and protege of Detective Ooughlin, and the evidence 
adduced before the jury was amply sufficient to warrant an indict- 
ment against him. He was arrested an hour after the indictment 
was found against him. 

A SYMPOSIUM. 

The atrocious conspiracy by which Dr. Cronin met his untimely 
end is now unmasked. It is, however, but the beginning of the end. 
The wretches who murdered him and their accessories before and 
after the fact must be tried. It will be no mock exhibition of justice. 
The public is fully aroused to the enormity of the crime. The best 
elements of society are outspoken in denouncing the murderers of 
Dr. Oronin, and the most numerous and influential societies and 
organizations have met in public assemblages and mass meetings 
to express their horror of the damnable deed. There is a determin- 
ation deep down in the public heart that the attempt to punish it 
shall not be a sickening travesty of justice. The churches too 
have spoken. Father Muldoon, who delivered the funeral sermon 
of Dr. Cronin, sounded the key-note when he said: "He, (Cronin) 
hearkened to the call of humanity. He was told that a fellow-man 
was sick, and instantly with his heart full of charity, and in his 
hands the very instruments to bring relief to a fellow-being, he 
goes forth with mercy, charity, good-will, to his fellow-man, and — 
meets what? An atrocious death!" Most of the Protestant minis- 
ters also, took occasion in their pulpits to express their horror of 
this, the foulest murder in the annals of such bloody crimes. One 
of these ministers— the Kev. Frank Bristol of the Trinity M. E. 
Church — gave utterance to the following in a recent sermon which 
is an indication of the sentiments of the others: 

" Ireland wants no liberties bought by crimes, and would en- 
dure a thousand wrongs rather than bear the stain of one crime 
— so deep and so damnable — committed by her murderous 'patriots' 
who have violated truth from mercenary motives and then com- 
mit crimes to conceal their guilt. It would be fortunate if this 
conspiracy ends with the taking off of only one Irish patriot, but 
if the murderers go unpunished fifty more may share the same 
fate. And the fact that members of the police and detective force 
are known to have guilty knowledge of the crime, if added to the 
escajje from punishment of the perpetrators, will destroy public 
confidence in the power of justice and the efficacy of the protective 
system of law. Any murder would cause abhorrence, but an out- 
rage of this kind should not be forgotten until the perpetrators 
are in the hands of justice, and then their summary punishment 
should stand as a \var::'ng to deter others from similar offenses." 



—69- 

Dr. Bristol paid the following tribute to Dr. Cronin's character: 

" Dr. Cronin was opposed to dynamite and violence. He had no 
sympathy for men who believed in such outrages as that which took 
place at the Haymarket, and he dared to voice his abhorrence to 
these measures. He dared expose corruption in society circles; he 
dared oppose mercenaries who were leading his countrymen to des- 
truction; he dared demand a change — a reckoning— and for daring 
he paid the penalty! Dr. Cronin did not believe in destroying costly- 
public buildings, nor in the assassination of individuals, nor in the 
sacrifice of the lives of innocent women and children. He was not a 
fanatic ; he was not a man hurried on by violent prejudices, nor by 
the heated words of narrow-minded leaders. He was a man of 
thought and deliberation. He was a patriot and a statesman. He 
hoped to see Ireland prosperous. He believed in active, not violent, 
measures. His campaign was planned for the House of Parliament. 
His views were open, enlightened, and those which bring success to 
the diligent worker. He did not wish to gain the end by a hasty 
violent effort, but by gaining the approbation of all parties, and thus, 
refraining from destroying that of another." 

A mass-meeting was held at Battery D on the evening of July 
2, which was addressed by Gen. A. L. Chetlain, Mason B. Loomis, 
Rev. C. E. Mandeville, Dr. Murdock, G. G. Miner, and other promi- 
nent citizens. A series of resolutions was adopted, voicing the 
sentiments of the meeting. The preamble says: 

"We, American citizens, representing by our birth many na- 
tionalities, but by our loyalty and allegiance only one nation and 
one principle of free government, irrespective of religious or polit- 
ical affiliations, in mass-meeting assembled, unite to express our 
horror over the assassination of Dr. P. H. Cronin, to declare our 
detestation of the foul conspiracy of which he was the victim, and 
to urge upon the state and national authorities prompt measures 
for the punishment of the conspirators and the dissolution of all 
organizations not in harmony with American institutions." 

The resolutions proceed to say that the "removal" of Dr. 
Cronin was a "conspicuous crime against society, humanity, and 
the supremacy of organized law," and conclude as follows: 

"We call upon the government at Washington to stamp out 
treason under whatever flag it may conspire. And finally we pledge 
our influence to all measures that municipal, state, or national 
officials may take to vindicate the sacredness of human life in Illi- 
nois and the supremacy of American institutions in America. To 
this end we pledge our honor as men, our ballots as citizens, and 
if need be our lives as Americans." 



In the progress of the investigation of this revolting crime, 
several singular and signilicant circumstances have not failed to 
arrest the attention of those who have given it thoughtful considera- 
tion. Several have already been mentioned in these pages; others 
have not. The most significant of these is the fact that no sooner had 
Dr. Cronin's sudden and unexplained absence become known, and the 
fears of his friends made public, than a series of organized and 
systematic efforts followed calculated to divert the attention of both 
the police and the public from the real facts in the case. First, 
insinuations and inuendos intended to injure Dr. Cronin's reputation, 
and smirch his good name were invented. A cloud of damaging 
suggestions succeeded, and bogus despatches — inspired by some 
occult influence— followed to the effect that Dr.Cronin w^as alive,had 
absconded and was on his way to Europe, probably as pn " informer." 
It is not necessary to enter into detail to show that a strong suspicion 
was aroused that all this was inspired from some hidden source. A 
persistent effort, it is now evident, has been made from the time of 
the assassination forward to hoodwink the authorities, thwart their 
endeavors to find the perpetrators of the crime, and to deceive the 
public as to the real facts of the case, and turn investigation from 
the source whence all fair-minded men of quick perceptions know 
the hellish crime originated. 

The machinations of Dr. Cronin's enemies have come to naught. 
His character is untarnished by any of the insinuations of the 
jackals and ghouls who, no doubt for a purpose, have endeavored to 
rob him of his good name. The more his record has come to light 
the brighter does his character appear. It has come to be the verdict 
of public opinion that his love of justice, his abhorrence of duplicity 
and malfeasance in the discharge of sacred trusts, and his determin- 
ation to expose corruption in high places, furnishes the only correct 
solution of his murder, and the evidence thus far obtained conclu- 
sively proves that his determination to probe alleged crookedness and 
purge the cause of Irish nationality of fraud and dishonest practices 
— a policy which means the indefinite postponement of Irish free- 
dom — was the moving cause of the deadly conspiracy resorted to by 
his foes to silence him forever — the inspiration to the hideous atrocity 
whicli cuhninated in his murder. 



-71— 



BIOGRAPHICAL. 



Dr. Philip H. Cronin was born August 7, 1846, of Irish parents 
in Canada, and spent most of his boyhood in that Dominion. He 
went to New York City when nearly of age, and lived there awhile. 
From there he went to Missouri. From Edina in that State, he 
moved to St. Louis, taking with him letters from Archbishop Eyan. 
He joined the choir of St. John's Catholic Church soon after his 
arrival at St. Louis, and obtained employment with Michael Dough- 
erty, a grocer. He was then about twenty-four years old — a young 
man of fine attainments, a good musician and a very fine tenor- 
singer. The business hours of the grocery house he was in, con- 
flicted with his hours at choir and rehearsal, and he gave up his 
situation with Mr. Dougherty to take one with Mr. R. P. Tansy as 
Superintendent of Omnibuses. Economy and prudence in this posi- 
tion enabled him, after a time, to start a drug store on Garrison 
street near Easton avenue. While engaged in this business he 
studied medicine, and relinquishing the drug business he attended 
the Missouri Medical College, graduating in 1876 or 1877. He prac- 
ticed medicine in St. Louis several years. He was a captain in the 
local militia of St. Louis, at the time of the strike in 1877. He 
was a prominent member of the Legion of Honor, and organized 
Alpha Lodge. He was courteous, kind-hearted and popular, had 
an extensive acquaintance and a large circle of close friends. He 
was a strict Catholic. In St. Louis he gave no attention to poli- 
tics. Upon taking up his residence in Chicago he became an act- 
ive worker in the Irish National cause and also in politics, acting 
with the Republican party. His was a generous nature. His im- 
pulses were quick and strong. When convinced that he was right, 
nothing could daunt him. He despised duplicity and dishonesty 
and when, with others, he was satisfied that a few controlling 
spirits in the Irish National cause in this country were making 
dupes of the masses comprising the Irish organizations for selfish 
and mercenary purposes, his soul revolted, and he bent his energies 
to probe the matter to the bottom. On these accounts he made 
bitter enemies. There is no doubt that the conspiracy which cul- 
minated in his assassination, was the result of these feuds. 



-72- 



CRONIN. 

From the Indianapolis Journal. 
He was my friend! To-night I sit 

And think of him whose sad fate stirs 

The pity of two hemispheres. 
With horror, as they speak of it. 

He Avas my friend! In other years 

I- hailed him as a soul refined, 

A college brother, brave and kind, 
Impulsive, tender, quick to tears. 

Poor man! He stood upon the side 
Of justice, with the feeble few, 
Who, having tried him, found him true 

And fearless — and for this he died. 

All lamblike to the slaughter pen 

They lured him with the lying cry 

Of mercy — led him forth to die, 
At midnight, in the dragon's den. 

Another victim of the bold, 

Unblushing villainy that waits, 

Red-handed, at old Erin's gates, 
And barters Irish blood for gold. 

The whole world's hot ; indignant eyes 

Are fixed on this, the foulest crime 

Recorded in our land and time — 
A deed whose horror multiplies. 

O fair-famed city of the lake, 

Awake! and let not any stain 

Of this last butchery remain 
On thy white garments, for God's sake! 

O Justice, with thy lightning smite 

The few or many — high or low — 

Who dealt or who inspired the blow 
That stunned the Christian world that night. 

—James Newton Matthews. 



ERRATA. 

On pagre 5 line 5 read " convinced, from," instead of " convinced. 

From." 

On page 6, line 17 read "Whe-" for "Wha-." 

On page 12, line 27 read "hour" for "time." 

On page 31, line 9, for "Woadruff " read "Woodruff." 

On page 33, line 11, for "paticular" read "particular." 

On page 36, line 24, for "pamphlet" read "publication." 

On page 47, line 32, for "1877" read "1887," and in line 33 for 

"Sullivad " read "Sullivan." 



SHOHIHGEB 



P ANOS 




The Pianos bearing the above name stand pre-eminently in the front 
rank, and are conceded to be the highest achievement in the art of piano 
manufacturing — containing, in a wonderful degree, all the essential quali- 
ties of a perfect piano. 

Faultless Tone, Perfection in Action, Extreme 
Durability, Elegance in Design and Finish. 

And are universally indorsed by leading musicians and musical people. 

SHONINGER ORGANS 

Are tlie LEADING ORGANS of the world, because they are THE BEST. 

These celebrated Organs have been before the public for over thirty- 
five years, and are acknowledged to be the best oegans now made. Med- 
als and First Premiums wherever exhibited. 



Over 95,000 in Use. 



Factories, 
2ew Haven, Conn. 



Established 1850. 



Send for Catalogue to 



B. SHONINGER CO., 

275 State Street, CHICAGO. 



GENERAL DEPOT OF SUPPLIES. 

REGALIA AND EQUIPMENTS TOR ALL SOCIETIES. 
Jewels. Emblems, Gold Badges and Charms, Flags and Banners. 




^ UNIFORMS A SPECIALTY 



-^ 



These elegent uniforms are made of good serviceable material, cor- 
rect in style, color, etc., finely finished. They are manufactured in strict ac- 
cordance with regulations, and furnished at extremely low prices. 

E5. xsi :es fi. T>a' :e: 

Room 32, 125 Clark Street, CHICAGO, IL-L«. 




78 Fifth Ave.^ Chicago. 

— MANUFACTUREK OF— 

ARTIFICIAL LIMBS 




A PERFECT FIT AND SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. 



CHICAGO, ST. PAUL and KANSAS CITY R'Y, 




Only Line West of Chicigo Running the Rew and Elegant 

VESTIBULED COHPAHTHENT 

TIME, 14 HEOXJRS 

—TO AND FROM— 

CHICAGO, ST. PAUL AND MINNEAPOLIS 

THE FAST LINE 

TO AMI) FIJOM— 

CHICAGO, DUBUQUE, DES MOINES, ST. JOSEPH, 

AND KANSAS CITY. 

HOTT'Cr C?-A.n>a- "ST O XT DB lES .A. T IT? 



LIBRARY OF ..CONGRESS ^ 



027 273 709 5 



